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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Chap. 
Shel 






FRESH AIR CHARITY 



IN THE 



UNITED STATES 



BY 



WALTER SHEPARD UFFORD, Ph.D. 



RECENTLY FELLOW IN SOCIOLOGY IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



BONNELL, SILVER & CO. 

(Late with Anson D. F. Randolph & Co.) 

24 West Twenty-second Street 

New York 

189 7 












9 O'OO 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 
.- v 

PAGE 

The trend of events favorable to the charity 1 

Problems arising from its rapid growth 2 

Two Fresh Air conferences 3 

The present inquiry suggested 4 

Its scope as shown by the circular letter of inquiry 5 

Sources of information and method of procedure 6 

The limits of the inquiry; their justification 7 

The summer philanthropies omitted 9 



CHAPTER II. 

STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES OUTSIDE OF 
NEW YORK CITY. 

Character and completeness of the data 10 

Conditions thought to promote the charity 11 

Location, names, and dates of the general societies 11 

Summary of their distribution 12 

Their nature 12 

Rise and development of the charity 14 

Its relation to similar movements abroad 19 

Beneficiaries, significance and value of the term 20 

Total expenditures,— an analysis 23 

Statistics of beneficiaries and expenditures of 37 societies 26 

Age classification 27 

Statistics for 1895 28 

Analysis and discussion 30 

Sex 31 

Two types of the work — day excursions and country week 32 

Cost, per capita, 1895, (and note on "state-help") 35 

Form of entertainment 39 



ii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 
FRESH AIR RELIEF IN NEW YORK CITY. 

PAGE 

Conditions here especially favorable for the study 42 

Three divisions of the subject 43 

I. General Fresh Air Societies (descriptive). 

St. John's Guild 44 

Children's Aid Society 45 

Sanitarium for Hebrew Children 46 

Tribune Fresh Air Fund 48 

All Souls' Summer Home 52 

Bartholdi Creche 54 

Life's Fresh Air Fund 55 

Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor 55 

George Junior Republic 57 

Little Mothers' Aid Association 60 

Summer Shelter of Morristown 60 

Gilbert A Robertson Home 61 

Lana ac Tela Society 62 

Christian Herald Children's Home 62 

Statistics of these fourteen General Societies 

Table I.— General Statistics 63 

Analysis 64 

Table II.— Excursionists and Visitors in 1895 66 

Analysis 67 

Adults and Children 67 

Table III.— Adults and Children in 1895 68 

Ages of Child- Visitors 68 

Table IV.— Ages of Child- Visitors in 1895 69 

Expenditures 69 

Cost of permanent equipment 70 

Table V . —Expenditures of the General Societies 71 

Analysis 72 

II. New York's Parochial Agencies 73 

Limits observed in the tabulation 73 

Affiliations of the societies tabulated 74 

Denominational activity 74 

Remarks on Tables VI. and VII 76 

Table VI.— Statistics of Parochial Societies for 1895 77 

Table VIL— Expenditures of Parochial Societies for 1895 78 

III. Working Girl's Vacation Societies 78 

Their distinguishing characteristic 78 

New York Working Girls' Vacation Society 78 

J ewish Working Girls' Vacation Society 79 

The Vacation Farm Society 80 

Table VIII.— Statistics of Working Girls' Vacation Societies . . 80 

Analysis 81 

Statistical summary of New York's Fresh Air work 83 



CONTENTS. iii 
CHAPTER IV. 
DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 

PAGE 

Topics treated 84 

The various forms of Fresh Air relief 84 

Day excursions 84 

Country week 8(5 

The family, and the "home" or colony 87 

Methods employed in the selection of beneficiaries 90 

Contributions of beneficiaries 91 

English and American systems compared 92 

Means taken to prevent duplication 93 

Possibilities of such duplication in New York City 95 

A hypothetical case 96 

Opinions of workers 96 

Objections to duplication 97 

Statistics of a canvass of 200 families 98 

Does the charity tend to pauperize its recipients 99 

Self -operating checks 99 

The charity as an educational force 100 

Perfecting the philanthropy 102 

Official opinions concerning its present needs 103 

Its rewards 105 

Conclusions 107 

Bibliography 112 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

One of the latest and richest fruits of modern philanthropy is 
that embraced under the comprehensive title, Fresh Air Charity. 
Inspired, in some few instances, by similar movements abroad, its 
genesis has be^n in the main a product of local conditions and en- 
thusiasms. The rapid development of our cities had sacrificed 
light and air to the pressing demands of modern industrialism. 
The tenement and the slum had come to be accepted as the price 
of material growth. Meanwhile attempts to mitigate rather than 
destroy the ills of congested populations were making. Dispen- 
saries ministering freely to the sick, the growth of organized charity, 
the development of the college settlement, and the institutional 
church, are witnesses to a desire to alleviate the life of the poor at 
their own doors. 

Contemporaneously with the massing of population in the cities 
has come, like the memory of a departed blessing, a hunger for the 
sea, the country and the mountains. The gospel of vacations and 
outdoor life has been proclaimed as the cure for the nervous ex- 
haustion of urban conditions. Business, religion, education have 
adapted themselves to the demand for increased relaxation. Where 
time and money are boon companions it is an easy matter to take 
advantage of the leisure of the summer months. Happily those who 
regularly take themselves off to the country or the seashore have 
not been able entirely to forget the less fortunate denizens of the 
city who are left behind. 

Another influence which has been at work in behalf of this phil- 
anthropy is the shifting of interest from the adult to the child. In 
religion, education, social reform, all questions of progress center 
about the child. The child is recognized as the salvable element 
in society. The kindergarten, the manual training school, young 
people's religious societies, the innumerable clubs for boys and for 
girls, all confirm what is a matter of common observation. The 
child is set in the midst to-day after the example of two thousand 
years ago. 

This growing respect for the sacredness of childhood, coupled 
with the economic and social conditions already referred to, has 



2 FR,ESH AIR CHARITY. 

made Fresh Air relief, as it exists at present, both spontaneous and 
inevitable. Scarcely any appeals, except in behalf of those actually 
perishing, find so general and hearty response as do those for 
fresh air for the babies and children. 

The philanthropy is largely the product of our own generation. 
Some of the pioneers of the movement are still in their prime. They 
have lived to see their early efforts generously sustained and widely 
imitated. To-day in New York City alone, twenty-nine churches of 
one denomination unite in this work. Fourteen general and non- 
sectarian agencies, and no fewer than nineteen denominational en- 
terprises or special societies conducting Fresh Air Homes, are in the 
field, to say nothing of the innumerable allied or private instru- 
mentalities. 

It is not surprising that the friends of organized charity, espe^ 
daily in a city like New York, should look upon this rapid and unco- 
ordinated multiplication of Fresh Air societies with some misgiving. 
Absence of mutual conference or systematic cooperation among the 
workers has long been regarded as a misfortune, although not a 
few promoters of the expanding charity have maintained in theory 
and practice that there could be no such thing as too much fresh 
air for anybody. The question at once arises whether there is 
something in the nature of this particular form of relief which 
makes it an exception to the general principles of scientific charity. 
Can Fresh Air societies, for example, afford to act except upon 
knowledge gained by thorough investigation? Ought they to en- 
deavor impartially to provide for all who are worthily in need of their 
beneficence? To this end ought they to use means to prevent un- 
wise duplication and the bestowal of relief upon those who might 
provide for their own outing? Should parents be encouraged to 
contribute something, no matter how small, to the expense of the 
holiday? Need we have any fear that the charity will ever make 
paupers of the children who receive it? 

These questions cannot be answered without a study of the 
methods actually employed in Fresh Air relief and their results. 
Up to this time no such inquiry as the present one has been at- 
tempted. Each agency at work in the field has presented its own 
case to the public, usually to find a cordial endorsement shown by 
enlarged contributions. It is scarcely too much to affirm that the 
philanthropy has been regarded as a kind of summer recreation in 
which the rules that obtain during the more serious portions of the 
year might safely be suspended. Now and then a vigorous! pro- 



INTRODUCTORY. 3 

test has been entered against making the charity the one exception 
to the general principle that it is always dangerous to give some- 
thing for nothing. All warnings of this sort have been quickly 
forgotten in the enthusiasm of the moment. 

Two conferences on "Fresh Air Work" have been held in New 
York City under the auspices of the Charity Organization Society. 
A printed report of the first of these gatherings of workers called to- 
gether in 1888 thus outlines the general situation: "Rapid growth 
brings to light hidden difficulties. The removal of difficulties re- 
quires investigation and the application of wise methods. Such 
is the history of Fresh Air work in New York City. The multi- 
tude of children who have been sent out into the country in recent 
years, the varying obstacles encountered, and the diverging plans of 
treatment, have made a comparison of methods more necessary 
than ever. It was the recognition of this fact that led to the calling 
of a conference of Fresh Air workers by certain of those interested 
in that noble charity." The committee in charge of the arrange- 
ments had suggested these topics for consideration: "Invited 
Guests, Boarding Out, and Colonization;" "Medical Examination 
and Cleanliness;" "Partial Payments by Parents, including car- 
fares;" "Selection and Classification;" "Instruction;" "Food;" 
"Should Children be Expected to Work;" "Repeaters." Concern- 
ing the last topic the report says: "The discussion on this point 
was full and interesting. All present felt the need of stopping so 
evil a custom — a custom which robbed one child of pleasure and 
profit for the undue gratification of another. Mrs. Wolcott, an 
agent of the Charity Organization Society, related how, when 
three out of five missionaries in her district complied with the re- 
quest for cooperation, there was discovered in the lists compared 
thirty per cent, of duplication. ... It was suggested by Mr. Kel- 
logg that the Charity Organization Society were able and willing to 
make up a central register of the names sent by the various agents." 

Resolutions, expressing the sense of the meeting on each of 
the topics under consideration, were passed. With regard to dupli- 
cation it was resolved: "That the Charity Organization Society 
offers an efficient agency for the prevention of repeating. That a 
conference of missionaries and other Fresh Air workers should be 
held early in the season, at some central place in each part of the 
city, for a comparison of the lists of children (the offices of the re- 
spective District Committees of the Charity Organization Society 
are freely offered for such conferences), and that cordial coopera- 



4 FR(ESH AIR CHARITY. 

tion io the only power that can put down the evils' of repeating/' 
Three years elapsed during which no- action seems to have been 
taken to put into practice the suggestions of the conference. A sec- 
ond gathering was called together in 1891. As a result of its delibera- 
tions a circular letter was addressed to the societies and churches 
engaged in the work. This letter invited them "to furnish to the 
Charity Organization Society lists of the names and addresses of 
their beneficiaries who had received a week or more vacation dur- 
ing the summer, so that such lists may be compared at the end of 
the season in order to discover what duplications, if any, have oc- 
curred." This, however, was not the sole purpose of the communi- 
cation. The letter continued : "It is also desired to elicit such infor- 
mation concerning difficulties that arise and obstacles that are en- 
countered during the summer, in the experience of all, so that at 
the close of the summer a comparison may be made and remedies 
and improvements devised. It was felt that such information was 
necessary in order to ascertain the magnitude of real or supposed 
abuses and to deal with them intelligently." 

This request for a list of the beneficiaries of each society and 
also for such experiences and suggestions as might be deemed 
helpful was, like the recommendations of the conference of 1888, 
practically unheeded. Unity of action on the part of Fresh Air 
societies seems to-day as far off as ever. Meanwhile the work has 
continued to grow both in variety and volume. To what propor- 
tions it has actually attained, not only in New York City, but in 
the country at large, the following statistical study will serve to 
indicate. 

Notwithstanding the apparent failure of the two conferences 
held at the instance of the Charity Organization Society, the con- 
clusions there reached have not been entirely forgotten. The feel- 
ing expressed at the conference of 1891, "that the danger line had 
been reached in this department of charity," is still prevalent among 
experienced Fresh Air workers of the city. William Howe Tolman, 
Ph. D., the general agent of the New York Association for Im- 
proving the Condition of the Poor, first directed the writer's atten- 
tion to the field covered by the present inquiry. The cooperation 
of the Association was freely offered by Dr. Tolman in the interest 
of a thorough statistical investigation. A list of questions was pre- 
pared, and circulated in the name of the N. Y. A. I. C. P. The re- 
port of the society for 1895 thus speaks with reference to this in- 
quiry: "The great danger in Fresh Air work is the tendency to 



INTRODUCTORY. 5 

pauperization. The boy or girl receives a day's outing free, then 
the child will want a week at the Seaside Home, or the parents will 
think that the society should help them during the winter. When 
Fresh Air work is not planned with the greatest wisdom, and care- 
ful selection made of those to come within the scope, there is danger 
that more harm, than good will result. To ascertain the salient 
features of the Fresh Air work of the various societies and churches, 
the following inquiries are being sent: 

i. Does your Society undertake the Summer Charity, commonly 
known as the Fresh Air Work? 

2. What other societies or churches in your city are also engaged 

in this work? 

3. In what year was your work inaugurated? 

4. Total number of beneficiaries to date? 

5. Expenditures (excluding construction expenses) to date? 

6. Number of men, women, children, sent in 1895? 

7. Number sent for week(s) ? Number sent for day(s) ? 

8. Total expenditures, 1895? 

9. Are beneficiaries sent to private families or to your own 

homes? 

10. How are the children selected; by your own visitor ; 
through other societies ; or otherwise? 

11. Do parents, children or friends share the expense of each 
outing for the day or week? 

12. What proportion? 

13. Are any means employed to prevent duplication by churches 

and societies engaged in this work? If so, what? 

14. Is there any tendency on the part of the recipients to come 
upon the Society for assistance in other directions, appar- 
ently as a result of this work? 

15. Is any kind of instruction attempted at your Summer Homes? 

16. If so, of what nature? 

17. From your experience, will you give any suggestions as to a 
better and more thorough organization of this work? 

18. How can the work be improved? 

(a) (b) (c) 

19. Does it pay?" 

There are in the United States no fewer than 129 relief societies 
which have adopted wholly or in part Charity Organization prin- 
ciples, and which are in correspondence with one another as occas- 



6 FRjESH AIR CHARITY. 

ion demands. These societies represent communities whose popula- 
tion aggregated, at the last census, 1 1,450,000. In December, 1895, 
the above letter was' sent to each of these 129 societies and also 
to churches and other organizations in New York City engaged 
in this work. Of the 128 relief societies outside of New York City- 
addressed in this way, 48 replied to the circular letter; 
25 of these answered that no Fresh Air work was attempted 
in their respective cities or towns, while 23 replied in the 
affirmative and furnished information more or less complete. In 
several instances the original letter had been referred for answer 
to the particular society in the town undertaking the work. In 
other cases the name of such society or societies was furnished by 
way of answer to the second question of the circular. In the latter 
instance, a letter was forwarded at once directly to the society men- 
tioned. ' 

After waiting several months for further replies, another 
attempt was made after this fashion. The Charity Organization 
Societies in all the cities of 100,000 inhabitants or over, not already 
heard from, were addressed, this time with a personal letter to the 
secretary of the society. Any other agencies known to be doing 
Fresh Air work^ but from whom no direct information had as yet 
been obtained, were similarly approached. Not infrequently, a 
correspondence protracted through the summer of 1896 was neces- 
sary before the facts desired could be secured. The tables are them- 
selves witnesses to not a few failures to make the returns complete. 
In New York City, the inquiry was simplified by easy access to 
the agencies themselves. Reliance upon correspondence was, if 
possible, less satisfactory here than elsewhere. Personal visits, ex- 
plaining the purpose of the inquiry, proved the one effective way 
of ensuring the cooperation of the societies and churches con- 
cerned. 

In the case of the latter, it was seen very early in the course of the 
inquiry that it would be too much to expect from them a summary 
of their Fresh Air work, beyond the current year. Seldom were 
complete files of their annual reports or year books available, nor is 
it the custom with such religious societies to carry forward from 
year to year the totals of their Fresh Air work. The matter was 
much simpler in the case of the non-sectarian societies. Accustomed 
to render an account of their stewardship to the general public, it 
was only a matter of time to secure the data sought. It but remains 
to justify the classification adopted in the compilation of the re- 



INTRODUCTORY. 7 

suits, before proceeding to the presentation of the statistical ma- 
terial. 

In any study of Fresh Air charity in the United States it would 
manifestly be impracticable to attempt to include the work of all 
the parochial 1 agencies interested in the philanthropy. 

Some idea of the possibilities of their activity may be had by 
reference to the, statistics of New York City. The secretary of the 
"Country Week," of Boston, after mentioning more than thirty 
agencies engaged in Fresh Air charity in that city, concludes the 
catalogue, as if in despair of doing everybody justice, by saying: 
"and nearly every other church and society in Boston." There 
are at least two reasons for omitting these parochial societies, be- 
sides the evident impossibility of furnishing anything like a complete 
list of them. In the first place, where systematic records are kept — 
which is by no means always the case, such records are frequently 
regarded as the private concern of the particular church or society. 
The statistician is not unlikely to be looked upon as a newsmonger 
and his request for the transcription of statistical data, as a bit of un- 
warranted intrusion. The second reason is the desire to avoid du- 
plication in the statistics, for the omission referred to is often more 
apparent than real. Of the various organizations in Boston re- 
ported as doing Fresh Air work, nearly all were, in a greater or less 
degree, cooperating with "Country Week." To prevent duplica- 
tion of records,, it is necessary to count the beneficiary, not in his 
own home, nor in the hands of the mission or agency that vouches 
for his worthiness and need, but as the ward of the society that ac- 
tually transports him to the country and is responsible for his 
entertainment. An illustration of this principle is furnished by the 
Baptist Young People's Union of New York. In 1895, twenty-nine 
Baptist agencies sent children to the country under the auspices 
of the Union. Each of these twenty-nine religious societies might 
truly report themselves as engaged in Fresh Air work. An enu- 
meration of their beneficiaries, together with those of the Union, 
would have led to an inflation of 100 per cent. There is much also 
that rightly enough falls under the head of Fresh Air charity 
which is not of informing value in an inquiry like the present one. 
There are, for instance, the single day's outings occasionally pro- 
vided in certain towns and cities for the poor of the community. 

1 By a parochial society is meant one which ministers to its own mem- 
bership or constituency. Social settlements as well as churches would be 
Included in the term. 



8 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

Often, as one of our correspondents has expressed it with regard to 
her own city i 1 "The work in this line is not so much from the neces- 
sity of giving the beneficiaries fresher and purer air as to bring a 
little brightness and diversion into their lives." Outings 
of this kind, although of the nature of picnics, are not 
on this account to be despised, especially when properly 
safeguarded so that the physically and materially destitute 
are the ones actually reached. 2 Naturally, however, a study like 
the present one, pursued for the purpose of throwing light upon 
the problems attaching to Fresh Air relief, interests itself primarily 
in the more serious and constant efforts systematically to reach the 
poor and destitute sick of our cities and towns. It is therefore to 
the general and regular types of the philanthropy as distinguished 
either from the parochial, on the one hand, and the occasional, on the 
other, that this immediate portion of the inquiry addresses itself. - 
When we confine our attention to a single city, like New York, it 
becomes practicable to present statistics for both general Fresh Air 
charities and those more or less limited in their field of operation. 

Even in that case, great care is necessary to avoid duplication of 
records, while the impossibility of securing from the churches sta- 
tistics of their work for a succession of years, has forbidden a com- 
prehensive tabulation of the Fresh Air activity of these agencies. 

There are two forms of this philanthropy, frequently included 
under the broad title, "Fresh Air Work," that do not properly be- 
long to an inquiry like the present. Many institutions, such as hos- 
pitals and orphanages, maintain summer homes to which they 
transfer during the heated term their inmates or convalescents. 
With these we have nothing to do. They are branches of perma- 
nent and continuous charities and are not called upon to face the 
problems with which the present investigation concerns itself. There 
is, in the second place, a large amount of Fresh Air work which 
does not fall under the head of relief-giving. None the less is it 
nobly philanthropic. We refer to those efforts, whose name is 
legion, to provide boarding places at low rates for gentlewomen and 
working people. The numerous summer homes of the Young 
Women's Christian Association, of the Girls' Friendly Societies, of 
the Vacation Rest Societies, the Retreats for Nurses, and other 



1 Bangor, Me. 

2 The following cities report general excursions for a single day in 
1895: Louisville, Ky.; New Brunswick and Trenton, N. J.; Brockton, 
Mass. Doubtless there were many others not reported. 



INTRODUCTORY. 9 

similar institutions are the fruit of this kind of philanthropy. Per- 
manent quarters are provided by generously disposed individuals 
or societies. Board and rooms are to be had at a nominal price. 
The guests are not allowed to consider themselves objects of charity 
but every means is taken to maintain their self-respect. Several 
homes coming under one or the other of these heads have been 
brought to our attention but are excluded by the classification 
adopted. 

In our study then, of Fresh Air Charity, these four types of en- 
deavor will be neglected : — 

i. Parochial Fresh Air Charities, or those intended to meet the 
needs of a particular society or parish. 1 

2. "Free Excursions," given but once in the course of the season 
and not always on successive years. 

3. Branch Hospitals for Convalescents, Summer Orphanages 
and the like. 

4. Summer Homes where the principle of "self-help" predom- 
inates. 2 

1 These are included in the study of Fresh Air societies in New 
York City. 

2 A correspondent thns describes one of these Holiday Houses of the 
Girls' Friendly Society: "The board is $3.00 per week and that covers the 
expense of the table and the wages of four women servants. We raise 
enough money to give the girls drives and to cover the expense of keep- 
ing the place in order and certain other incidentals. Every girl who 
comes pays her own board and her railroad fare, which is $1.55 for the 
round trip. Of course, in many instances, this money has been furnished 
either by the Sick Relief Fund of her branch or by individual persons, 
but we have no means of knowing about this, as it is not our affair." 



CHAPTER II. 

STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 

The method employed in collecting the statistical material for 
a study of Fresh Air relief, as well as the limitations imposed by the 
nature of the inquiry have already been set forth. We are now pre- 
pared to consider, at some length, the data obtained in answer to the 
questions addressed to all the General Fresh Air Societies known to 
exist in the United States. In a few minor instances only — some 
half dozen in all — have returns eventually been wanting. The re- 
sults, therefore, as tabulated may be looked upon with considerable 
confidence as embodying the work of the great majority of these ' 
agencies throughout the country. 

Of the 61 places replying to the circular letter, 35 report that 
Fresh Air work is being prosecuted in their respective cities or 
towns. The replies furnished by 1 1 of these, however, show that the 
work described does not fall within the scope of the present study. 
26 places answer in the negative. The presumption is in favor of 
supposing that of the nearly 70 cities or towns sending no replies, the 
large majority had no work of the kind to report. This conclusion is 
based upon the facts: (1) That a society doing general Fresh Air 
work, or knowing of its being done within its own town, might be 
expected to feel sufficient local pride to publish the matter abroad ; 
(2) that a majority of the places heard from, either replied in the 
negative, or reported work outside the field of investigation; (3) 
from the character of the towns not heard from, their situation, size 
or material resources. 

Of the 28 cities of over 100,000 inhabitants at the last census, 
17 are known to sustain General Fresh Air Charities and these 
appear in the statistical tables. 

4 report charities outside the present field. 

4 answer in the negative. 

3 have not been heard from, but in only one of these is it proba- 
ble that the work is carried on. 

Among the 26 places reporting: "No Fresh Air Work," 
are many of the smaller Eastern cities and several of the larger 
cities of the West, like Denver, Kansas City, Portland, Ore., Seattle 
and San Francisco. 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 11 

Many of the answers throw light upon the conditions that are 
supposed to favor the growth of the charity. The secretary of the 
Charity Organization Society of Denver, writes: "The superior 
climatic conditions and healthful environment of the poor in Colo- 
rado, make Fresh Air work unnecessary." The secretary of the 
Associated Charities of Omaha says : "No such work carried on in 
our city, in fact our city is so open, has six parks, and very healthy, 
that such work is not considered necessary." Another writes of a 
Western town, "We have no tenement houses. As a rule each 
family occupies one house." From San Francisco comes the 
answer: "There are no Fresh Air Societies in San Francisco — the 
climate is cool and fresh the year round." The replies are signifi- 
cant. They confirm the impression made by a survey of the locali- 
ties where the work abounds, namely,, that this charity finds its ex- 
pression almost entirely east of the Mississippi — St. Louis and 
Minneapolis being the exceptions. As population grows more 
dense and our cities become the seat of manufacturing as well as of 
commercial interests, the philanthropy flourishes. The principal 
cities of the Eastern Seaboard maintain large benevolences of this 
sort. Doubtless the great influx of foreign population into these 
cities has given a decided impetus to the work. Statistics touching 
the nationality of "Fresh Air Children" are almost entirely wanting, 
but there is scarcely room for doubt that the majority of the bene- 
ficiaries of the general societies are of foreign parentage. 1 

By reference to the location of the charities enumerated below, 
the Fresh Air agencies reported are seen to be distributed among 
24 cities 2 and in 13 States. 

City and State. Society. Date 

1 Albany, N. Y City Tract and Missionary Society . . . 1891 

2 Allegheny City, Pa Young Women's Christian Association 1890 

3 Baltimore, Md Orange Grove Children's Country Home 1886 

4 Baltimore, Md Children's Fresh Air Society 1891 

5 Baltimore, Md Hollywood Children's Summer Home 1892 

6 Baltimore, Md Hopewell Summer Home 1894 

7 Boston, Mass Country Week 1875 

8 Boston, Mass City Missionary Society 1880 

9 Boston, Mass Children's Island Sanitarium 1886 

10 Boston, Mass Episcopal City Missionary Society .... 1888 

11 Boston, Mass Boston Institute Seashore Home 1888 

1 There is abundant proof of this in the work of the Children's Aid 
Societies of New York and Brooklyn, the Floating Hospitals of New York 
and Boston, and the character of the population in the fields where the 
general societies are chiefly engaged. 

2 Including New York City. 



12 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

City and State. Society. Date. 

12 Boston, Mass Boston Floating Hospital 1894 

13 Brooklyn, N. Y Children's Aid (Society 1876 

14 Brooklyn, N. Y Working Women's Vacation Society. . 1884 

15 Buffalo, N. Y Fresh Air Mission 1888 

16 Buffalo, N. Y Fresh Air Mission Hospital 1893 

17 Chicago, 111 Daily News Fresh Air Fund 1887 

18 Chicago, 111 Lake Geneva Fresh Air Association 1 . . 1888 

19 Chicago, 111 Hinsdale Fresh Air Home 1891 

20 Cincinnati, Ohio Fresh Air Society 1886 

21 Cleveland, Ohio Children's Fresh Air Camp 1889 

22 Detroit, Mich Association of Charities 1895 

23 Hartford, Conn Charity Organization Society 2 1894 

24 Hartford, Conn City Missionary Society 1894 

25 Indianapolis, Ind Summer Mission for Sick Children. .. 1890 

26 Milwaukee, Wis Associated Charities 1888 

27 Minneapolis, Minn. . . . Minneapolis Outing Association 1890 a 

28 New Haven, Conn City Missionary Association 1882 

29 Philadelphia, Pa Children's Country Week Association. 1877 

30 Philadelphia, Pa Sanitarium Association 1877 

31 Pittsburg, Pa Association for Improving the Condi- 

tion of the Poor 3 1879 

32 Portland, Me Fresh Air Society 1890 

33 Rochester, N. Y Infants' Summer Hospital, Ontario 

Beach 1887 

34 Salem, Mass Associated Charities 1892 

35 Scranton, Pa Men's Guild of St. Luke's Church 1893 

36 St. Louis, Mo St. Louis Republic 4 1880 

37 Worcester, Mass City Missionary Society 1895 

This is the summary: 

New York 5 

Pennsylvania 4 

Massachusetts 3 

Connecticut 2 

Ohio 2 



Illinois 

Indiana 

Maine 


1 

1 

1 

.. .. 1 
.. .. 1 


Minnesota 

Missouri 

Wisconsin 


.... 1 
.... 1 
.. .. 1 


Michigan . . . . 







The Nature of the Societies Doing the Work. 
An interesting question arises at this point. What is the char- 

a Approximate. 

1 "For poor children residing in or near Chicago." 

2 Money was raised by Hartford Courant (1894) ; Hartford Times 
{1895). 

3 The work of the Pittsburg society has passed through various 
forms. Owing to its changing character no statistics are presented pre- 
vious to 1895. 

* The "Protective Society for Women and Children" is in charge of 
the excursions. St. Louis supported a "Country Week" society (1884- 
1893), sending an average of 75 children a season to private families, at 
a total expense of $2,000. 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 13 

acter of the organizations prosecuting this philanthropy? Have 
they been called into existence to cover a field neglected by older 
charitable enterprises, or is this relief work a branch of the general 
endeavor of these organizations? Is the impulse to Fresh Air activ- 
ity born of religious motives, or is it humanitarian and secular in 
character? Is the church or the press the real dynamic agent in the 
movement? The answer is at hand in the very names of the 
societies themselves. The questions are not mutually exclusive. 
Each is found to be answered in the affirmative by a glance at the 
preceding table. Distinctly Fresh Air societies are in the majority. 
Some of these to be sure maintain a permanent office force and 
find work of an auxiliary character sufficient to occupy them dur- 
ing the winter. Others in the autumn, "fold their tents like the 
Arabs, and as silently steal away." Abounding with activity in the 
summer months, they hibernate the rest of the year. Good ex- 
amples of the latter type are found in the Children's Country Week 
Association of Philadelphia, and the Fresh Air Society of Cin- 
cinnati, as the writer has occasion to know from his attempts to dis- 
cover their winter quarters. 

On the other hand, there are many permanent organizations 
which have undertaken the charity as a branch of their general 
work. Often these are missionary or similar societies born of relig- 
ious enthusiasms. The seventy-ninth annual report of the City 
Missionary Society, of Boston, for instance, shows that 29 per cent, 
of the entire receipts of the society for 1895 were for its Fresh Air 
work. 1 Again, no one can have failed to observe the activity of 
the press in championing the charity. Its columns are always open 
to appeals for funds and not a few Fresh Air societies owe their 
support, if not their origin, to the influence of some particular paper. 
The largest Fresh Air work in the country carries the name of a 
well-known New York newspaper. The success of the Chicago 
Daily News and the St. Louis Republic in raising money for single 
day's outings is shown by the returns from their respective cities. 
This is not the place to speak of certain dangers to the work arising 
from indiscriminate newspaper appeals. One or two recent illustra- 
tions of this kind may be referred to later. An analysis of the so- 
cieties doing general Fresh Air work, including the 14 similar 
agencies of New York City, exhibits this grouping: 



1 Received for missionary operations, $19,645.85. Contributions for 
relief work, $12,962.50. Contributions for Fresh Air Fund, $13,430.37. 



14 FR<ESH AIR CHARITY. 

Fresh Air Societies (distinctively) 1 29 

Missionary Societies 6 

The Press 5 

Organized Charitable Societies 4 

Associations for Improving Condition of Poor 2 

Children's Aid Societies 2 

Churches 2 

Christian Associations 1 

Total 2 51 

The enumeration is unfair to the religious societies in one 
marked respect. By the very method of classification all sectarian 
societies are excluded. The activity of the churches, as shown in 
New York City alone, will serve to correct any false impressions on 
the subject. 

Rise and Development of the Charity. , 

The first Fresh Air work of which we have authentic 
record was inaugurated by Rev. William A. Muhlenberg 
in connection with his own parish in New York City. Dr. 
Muhlenberg's biographer, Miss Anne Ayres, speaking of 
the clergyman's relation to the philanthropy, says: "The 
term Fresh Air, as applied to country refreshment for the 
poor in summer, and now so common amongst us, that many 
and various agencies for the purpose, have adopted the phrase, was 
original with Dr. Muhlenberg, both as to name and fact." Miss 
Ayres quotes from the rector's parish notes of the summer of 1849, 
showing that the Doctor began then to send people away on ex- 
cursions. "A year or two later," continues Miss Ayres, "the Fresh 
Air provision became an established summer charity of the Church 
of the Holy Communion, and was often extended by the tender and 
loving pastor to other than its own church people. There is extant 
a debit and credit account of the 'Fresh Air Fund/ a year or two 
later, showing its benefits at an expenditure of about seventy dol- 
lars distributed thus: 'Two poor shirt isewers and consumptive 
brother, three weeks' board at Catskill ; poor student in ill health, 
the same for over a month ; an unhappy wife and two young chil- 
dren, and a widow and two young children, nearly two weeks ; an old 

1 Among these 29 are a few, like the Country Week, of Boston, that 
are affiliated with all-the-year-round organizations. The Country Week 
is really an integral part of the Boston Young Men's Christian Union, 
although it has its own secretary and appeals to the public for support 
in its own name. 

2 The working girls' vacation societies, as well as the churches of 
New York City, are considered to be in a class by themselves. 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 15 

man of eighty-five, his grand-children and great-grand-children, 
frequent trips to Staten Island; the same from time to time, to a 
poor old weaver, a sick and lonely widow, a lame boy, and some 
mothers with their sick infants.' " These were parishioners and most 
of the adults were communicants of the church. Here then is a 
beginning of Fresh Air work under ecclesiastical auspices. 1 

The organization of the General Fresh Air Societies was to come 
considerably later. A comparison of the dates at which these socie- 
ties were severally constituted will show the recent character and 
rapid development of this form of the philanthropy. The table 
which follows gives the data on this point for the 51 general 
societies in existence in 1895, f° r which we have statistics. 



Date of 
Organi- 
zation. 


No. of 

Societies 

Organized. 


Date of 
Organi- 
zation. 


No. of 

Societies 

Organized. 


Date of 
Organi- 
zation. 


No of 

Societies 

Organized, 


1874 


2 


1884 


1 


1894 


5 


1875 


1 


1886 


4 


1895 


2 


1876 


1 


1887 


3 






1877 


4 


1888 


5 






1879 


1 


1889 


1 






1880 


2 


1890 


8 






1882 


2 


1891 
1892 
1893 


4 
3 

2 








■ 




■ 




. 


1874-1883 . 


...13 


1884-1893 . 


... 31 


1894-1895 . 


. .. 7 



According to the earliest of these dates general Fresh Air char- 
ity in the United States is not yet of twenty-five years' standing. 
That this is the fact there is good reason to believe, although the 
initial impulse to the work antedates 1874 by one or two years. 

In an editorial in the New York Times of July 3, 1872, entitled, 
"Pity the Poor Children," the situation at that period is described 
and measures to provide immediate relief are urged. 

"The heat burst upon us before many families had time to leave 
the city, and for nearly a week we have been living in an atmos- 

1 "The Life and Work of William Augustus Muhlenberg, D. D.," by 
Anne Ayres; New York, 1880; pp. 208-210. 

In 1873, Dr. Muhlenberg opened a "summer retreat for poor children 
and weary mothers," at St. Johnland, Long Island. A farm house was 
bought by Mr. William H. Aspinwall and presented to Dr. Muhlenberg 
for this work. This "Cove House" has been called the "Mother House 
of all the 'Summer Homes.' " (Rev. J. Newton Perkins, The Church?nan, 
Vol. LXXIV., No. 11, Sept. 12, 1896.) 

The present Summer Home of the Church of the Holy Communion, 
at Ashford Hill Retreat, is now under the management of the Tribune 
Fresh Air Fund. 



10 FR<ESH AIR CHARITY. 

phere such as is experienced in July in the plains of Lower Bengal. 
. . From our office windows we can see, any night, scores of poor 
little waifs and strays, lying about in the City Hall Park, where, 
perhaps, they have been brought by some elder sister or kindly 
neighbor, in the hope of getting a breath of fresh air. It is enough 
to make the heart bleed to look at their white faces, and to listen 
to their sorrowful moans. ... If excursions to the country 
or seaside could be arranged for the poor children, it would be the 
best possible plan of enabling them to withstand the stress of the 
present season. It would not cost much to give a hundred chil- 
dren a happy day. \ Indeed, if some one would but organize the 
work, there are thousands of our citizens who would gladly give 
five or ten dollars each toward sending a party of children into the 
country for a week at a time. The pleasure thus given to the ne- 
glected little ones would be incalculable and scores of lives would 
be saved." 

The Times was urged to carry out its own suggestion. Accord- 
ingly, consultations were held with the managers of industrial and 
charitable schools of the city, and a plan of systematic procedure 
arranged. The city was districted and visitation provided for. The 
Times of July: 10, said: "Besides the series of excursions already 
projected, we propose to expend a portion of the money sent us in 
providing sick children with many desirable luxuries." The Times 
continued its free excursions for three years. At the close of the 
season of 1874, it said of the work: "It must be remembered that 
the charity hasi this year been largely supplemented by the efforts 
of private societies, which now arrange excursions on their own 
account. . . . It is probable that, in future years, the work 
will fall more and more into the hands of private societies." Sub- 
joined is the record of the excursions: 



Year. 


Children. 


Adults. 


Expenditures. 


1872 


18,672 


1,723 


$10,634.97 


1873 


21,393 


775 


9,640.40 


1874 


23,847 




8,850.83 


Total . . 


. 63,912 


2,498 


$29,126.20 



The receipts for the first year were $19,296.75. $5,183.04 was 
used in ministering to sick children in their own homes. 62,458 
families were visited the first summer. The example of the Times 
was quickly followed in other places. Brooklyn and Philadelphia 
were among the first cities to organize similar excursions in 1872. 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 17 

Among the several claimants for the honor of being the pioneers 
in Fresh Air relief stands St. John's Guild. 1 The Guild was founded 
in 1866 as a charitable relief society of St. John's Chapel, Trinity 
Parish. 2 It was one of the first societies to cooperate with the 
Times in arranging for district visitation among the sick children 
of its own parish. 3 In 1873, the Guild hired a barge and gave two 
excursions for sick children on its own account. In 1874, the so- 
ciety broke away from denominational control. Its activity, there- 
fore, as a non-sectarian body dates from that year. The first sum- 
mer of its independence the Guild provided 18 excursions for 
15,202 sick children, and its receipts were $32,624 — more than 
twice its entire revenue for the previous seven years of its history. 

In 1874, Mrs. A. P. Stokes, Jr., who had maintained on Staten 
Island the previous summer a sanatorium for infants and poor chil- 
dren, passed over the enterprise into the hands of the Children's Aid 
Society. 4 The result of res first season's work is thus summed up : 
"Our experience last year showed us that the poor were at first ex- 
ceedingly suspicious and distrustful of this kindness, many of them 
suspecting some project of proselytizing, or 'kidnapping' under it. 
The children themselves, too, became homesick after three days, and 
all very naturally had a special longing for bathing in hot weather." 5 

Accordingly, in 1875, quarters were rented at Bath Beach, L. I. 
It was not until several years later, that the society came into pos- 
session of its present properties at Bath and West Coney Island. 

The Country Week, of Boston, was founded in 1875 by Rev. 
William C. Gannett with the assistance of his sister, Mrs. Kate Gan- 
nett Wells. Mr. Gannett drew his inspiration from reading of a 
similar experiment in Copenhagen. The first summer, 160 children 
enjoyed, on the average, a ten days' visit to the country. "About half 
this number went, like any other guests, directly into private fami- 
lies; the other half were cared for in three 'homes' extemporized for 
the purpose." In 1877, the management of Country Week was 
placed in the hands of the Boston Young Men's Christian Union, 
where it has since remained. The following year, the society in- 
cluded within its functions the payment of the traveling expenses 
of those who might receive invitations to visit their own friends in 

1 Monthly Bulletin of St. John's Guild, Vol. I., No. 10. 
'Ibid., Vol. IV., No. 7. 

8 New York Times, July 19, 1872. 

4 Twenty-second Annual Report, C. A. S., 1874, p. 35. 

6 Twenty-third Annual Report, C. A. S., 1875, p. 33. 



18 FB,ESH AIR CHARITY. 

the country — invitations which otherwise must go unaccepted. 
Since that time the work of the Country Week has regularly fallen 
under three heads: "Boarded," "Invited," "Visited Friends." 1 

It was also in 1875 tnat tne foundations of the future work 
of the Children's Country Week Association, of Philadelphia, were 
laid. In that year, Mrs. Eliza S. Turner took a few poor children 
into the country to visit for a week. "In 1877 the work commenced 
in earnest, and 59 children were sent away. In 1878, 238 
were sent, and in 1879 tne number had increased to 676; about one- 
half of the latter had been entertained free among the farmers and 
a small board paid for the rest." 2 

It would appear that the first organization to possess a "Summer 
Home," erected for the special purpose, was the Brooklyn Chil- 
dren's Aid Society. The matron of the society's present Home, 
Mrs. Douglas, who has been acquainted with its Fresh Air Work 
from the beginning, writes: "The Home was established in 1876, 
and grew out of the need of it made more evident, in benefit to sick 
babies, from a single day's excursion to the seashore; these ex- 
cursions having been made under the auspices of the Children's Aid 
Society for several years previous. The first Home (1876) was 
erected for this work at West Brighton, Coney Island. . . . 
In 1886 our present buildings were erected and occupied the same 
year." 

Of all Fresh Air philanthropies, none is better or more favorably 
known than that which for so many years has gone under the name 
of the Tribune Fresh Air Fund. This charity is largely the creation 
of one man — Rev. Willard Parsons. Mr. Parsons was pastor of 
a church in Sherman, Pa., when he persuaded some of his parish- 
ioners to receive into their homes as guests for a fortnight's vaca- 
tion, the children of city tenements. This was in 1877. Sixty 
were thus entertained. The New York Evening Post fostered the 
enterprise during the next four years. In 1882 the work came under 
the auspices of the Tribune, whose name it has since borne. 

From 1877, dates the work of both the Philadelphia Sanitarium 
Association and that of the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children of 
New York City. Free excursions for the day for poor children and 
their caretakers constituted for many years the work of these two 
societies. 

1 "Country Week," William I. Cole, New England Magazine, Vol. 
XIV., No. 5. 

2 Annual Report of the Association. 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 19 

From a comparison of these dates, Fresh Air charity appears 
to have been decidedly in the air during the seventies. It is im- 
possible to demonstrate that the various agencies which entered 
upon the work at that time drew their inspiration from a common 
source or were directly dependent one upon the other. 1 Doubtless 
such a connection is traceable here and there. But the very 
variety in form and method characterizing the Fresh Air relief 
goes to show that these early endeavors were more or less spontan- 
eous movements animated by a common Zeitgeist. If, however, the 
philanthropy is to claim descent from a single ancestor, Dr. Muhlen- 
berg may well be considered its father. The work which he inau- 
gurated in the Church of the Holy Communion is the first syste- 
matic effort to give Fresh Air refreshment of which we have record, 
and gave to the charity that form which has made so warm a place 
for itself in the heart of the church, especially of his own commun- 
ion. Of the more general Fresh Air movements, the Times repre- 
sents the Fresh Air excursion; the St. John's Guild, the Floating 
Hospital idea; the Children's Aid Societies of New York and 
Brooklyn, are the early representatives of organized colonization; 
the Country Week societies of Boston and Philadelphia, have em- 
phasized the boarding-out system; while Mr. Parsons has been 
the champion of free entertainment. 

1 Reference has been made (p. 17) to the indebtedness of the Country 
Week, of Boston, to an earlier work in Copenhagen. 

In Switzerland, Rev. W. Bion, of Zurich, in 1876, established the first of 
the Vacation Colonies. ("Zum XXjiihrigen Bestand der Ferienkolonien. 
Bericht von Zurich, 1895, von W. Bion, Pfarrer.") In 1895 Switzerland 
had 73 of these colonies to which 2,199 children were sent that year. The 
total number of children so cared for in twenty years was 21,734. ("Die 
Ferienkolonien fur arme Schulkinder in der Schweiz, von Harald Marth- 
aler." Bern, 1897.) The Swiss societies also conduct what are called 
Half-Colonies or Milk-Cures ("Die Halbkolonien oder Milchkuren"). The 
latter consist of children who are provided in their own homes morning 
and evening with milk and bread. Excursions and games are frequently 
allied features of the half-colonies. Over 25,000 children have enjoyed 
the privileges of the milk-cures. The statistician of this work in Switzer- 
land, Rev. Harald Marthaler, says of the Vacation Colonies: "Provision 
for poor children during vacations had been made even before 1876. The 
significance of the movement which Rev. W. Bion instituted in Zurich, 
consists, however, in this, that the provision for vacations from that time 
was brought into systematic and very close relation to the public schools 
and conducted in strict adherence to pedagogical principles. For this 
reason it has developed into a philanthropy in the true sense— a philan- 
thropy which claims the interest of all instructors, humanitarians, and 
hygienists, and is worthy the most unselfish affection of all good people 
and deserving of the sacrifices which have been made; in its behalf." 
(Ibid, p. 3.) 

The organized Fresh Air work of Germany is contemporaneous with 
that of Switzerland. It was in 1874 that the first Children's Sanatoriums 



20 FHESH AIR CHARITY. 

Number of Beneficiaries. 

There are at least two standards by which Fresh Air societies 
attempt to measure their w T ork. One of these is expressed by the 
number of their beneficiaries ; the other, by their expenditures, total 
and per capita. To make the figures representing the first of these 
large, and those representing the second small, is a natural ambi- 
tion. To do the largest possible business at the smallest pro rata 
cost is considered proof of good management in mercantile affairs. 
Why not in charitable work? But is it always desirable in relief 
work to do as large a business as possible? And what is a large 
business? And what is economy in Fresh Air charity? Where 
and how is the standard of measurement to be found? Where, if 
not by a comparison of actual results as reported by the different 
societies? How, if not by striking an average, however crude, 
from the societies' own records? 

One of the chief purposes of a statistical study is the exhibition 
it affords of comparative results. The report of a single Fresh 
Air agency is an object of special interest to the members of its 
own constituency, while to say that those engaged in any form of 
philanthropy should acquaint themselves with the experiences of 
their fellow workers sounds like a platitude in these days of confer- 
ence and cooperation. The writer has found in certain quarters a 
distinct distrust of statistical measurements and a consequent dis- 
inclination to try to reduce high ideals to the vulgar level of arith- 
metical expression. Yet it may be well to remind ourselves of the 
advantages and of the limitations of statistics. While the science 
may be quite inadequate to gauge moral motive or human happi- 
ness, none will deny its competency to deal with things material. 
Statistics is nothing more nor less than a method of scientific book- 
keeping by which the community in its various social aggregates 
takes account of stock and estimates its gains and losses. No busi- 



were opened in Kolberg and Rothenf elde. In 1876 the first children were 
sent to Vacation Colonies. In twenty years 300.000 children, in round 
numbers, have been cared for at an expense of about fifteen million 
marks. ("Bericht fiber die am 8. u. 9. August, 1896, in Berlin abgehal- 
tene ffinfte Konferenz der Vertreter von Vereinigungen fur Sommer- 
pflege." Berlin, 1896.) 

For a brief summary of Fresh Air work in the various countries, see 
Marthaler's "Die Ferienkolonien, etc.," above quoted. 

There are two things which stand out as characteristic of Fresh Air 
work on the Continent: (1) The marked cooperation of Fresh Air 
agencies by means of conferences and the exchange of reports; (2) the 
affiliations of the work with that of the public schools. 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 21 

ness house can dispense with systematic accounting. No charitable 
enterprise can afford to neglect the same. 

Before, however, we can safely compare the work of one society 
with another, it is necessary to analyze the data at hand with con- 
siderable care. There is no virtue in any column of figures whose 
only common property is the use of the same digits. In almost 
every case where the total number of beneficiaries is given, the 
datum is "official," that is, returned by the society itself. Not in- 
frequently an organization has been able to furnish only the ap- 
proximate information desired. This fact is indicated in the tables 
by the letter a placed against the figures in question. In a few 
instances we have been obliged to make our own estimates based on 
other official data. Similarly, the letter is used to denote the 
fact. Where sufficient material is not available for an approximately 
accurate estimate, no figures are offered. But after all has been said 
any number representing simply the "total beneficiaries" is liable to 
mislead. Fresh Air societies, as we shall have occasion to see later 
on, are of two kinds. One type, reporting by far the larger number 
of persons, sends its beneficiaries away for a day at a time. Its work 
may be classed under the head of day excursions. The second 
type, reporting fewer individuals, but often actually furnishing a 
larger number of days' outings, is represented by the agencies which 
send their beneficiaries to the country or seashore for a series of 
days or weeks. In the first case, "total beneficiaries" will include 
many of the same individuals taken more than once, while in the 
second case, it will include many days' outings for the same indi- 
vidual. Therefore, not until the number which stands for "total 
beneficiaries" has been multiplied by the missing factor representing 
the number of days' outings which each person received, is it pos- 
sible to compare intelligently the volume of Fresh Air work done by 
the different agencies. In short, the safe unit ot measurement is 
not "beneficiaries" but "days' outings." Unfortunately, compara- 
tively few societies reduce their work to this basis. 1 Most of them 
are content to give the average number of days for which their 
beneficiaries are sent, an average, by the way, which is apt to be 
quite as large as the facts will warrant. 

Except in the case of New York City, where more diligent in- 
quiry was possible, no attempt has been made to reduce the "total 
beneficiaries" of the general Fresh Air societies in the United 

1 The annual reports of the "Country Week," of Boston, are note- 
worthy exceptions. 



22 FR;ESH AIR CHARITY. 

States to "total days' outings." Probably, in most instances, it 
might have been safely assumed that the character of the several 
societies' work had remained constant. By taking, then, the aver- 
age number of days' outings furnished to each individual in 1895 
as a standard, it would have been a simple matter of arithmetic to 
have obtained the desired result, namely, total days' outings. It 
has seemed better on the whole to let the data stand as given — a 
striking example of incomplete analysis — and to depend for actual 
comparison upon the more accurate returns for 1895. That the 
distinction noted above in the types of work is not always remem- 
bered, even by the societies themselves finds a good illustration in 
the official returns made by one of them. "We have done a larger 
work than any we know of in the country," writes this particular 
society. This opinion is evidently based on the total number of its 
beneficiaries — a very large one, though not so large as that of 
some other agencies. The moment the activity of the society in 
question is measured by days' outings or total expenditures there 
are found to be several Fresh Air philanthropies that take prece- 
dence. 

A further illustration of the need of an intelligent understanding 
of just what Fresh Air statistics mean in any given case, is furnished, 
if we compare what has been accomplished by two societies that con- 
spicuously stand for the two types of work, namely, day excursions 
and country week, respectively. While each of the societies referred 
to, is, as a matter of fact, now interested in both types of the 
charity, each, nevertheless, lays special emphasis upon the one 
form or the other. The Philadelphia Sanitarium Association and 
what is now the Tribune Fresh Air Fund are contemporaneous, 
both having begun work in 1877. The latter has the advantage, 
in that Mr. Parsons has statistics of his beneficiaries from the be- 
ginning, while the Sanitarium Association has no records for its 
first two years. Since Mr. Parsons' work was comparatively small 
at the start, the advantage is really immaterial. The Philadelphia 
Sanitarium reports by far the largest number of beneficiaries of any 
society, nearly <a million and a half persons. The total for the 
Tribune is 306,619. Has then the one agency done five times the 
work of the other? So it would appear, if the comparison were 
carried no further. More careful analysis, however, discovers the 
fact that the one agency confines its attention chiefly to the excur- 
sion type of charity and that the other lays special stress upon the 
country week form of the philanthropy. When the statistics of 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 23 

both organizations are reduced to a common denominator of days' 
outings, we find that the agency which had nearly five times as 
many beneficiaries as its fellow, provided but three-fourths as many 
days' outings. 

The illustrations might be continued in the case of the Chicago 
Daily News and the Country Week, of Boston, but enough has been 
said to show the incompleteness of such a composite number as 
"total beneficiaries" for the purposes of intelligent comparison. 

Total Expenditures. 

Probably few people realize the amount of money annually ex- 
pended for Fresh Air relief. The questions arise, Is this money 
wisely spent? Are Fresh Air funds economically administered? 
How far will a dollar go in this work? What is its influence upon 
its recipient? Does the shadow which haunts every other form of 
charitable endeavor, also lurk here — that of pauperizing those 
helped? 

Evidently if it is always dangerous to give something for noth- 
ing, the more that is given under such circumstances, the greater 
the peril involved. On the other hand the less that is given, except 
in the case of utter destitution, the less necessary would it seem to 
be to give anything. But is Fresh Air charity open to the charge 
of giving something for nothing? And could the little that it costs 
per capita be contributed by those who are now the recipients? 
Statistics alone cannot answer all these questions, although the 
science may throw some light on them. What has been said about 
the inadequacy of the number representing total beneficiaries when 
taken alone, applies in a certain measure to total expenditures. One 
disturbing factor entering unequally or not at all into the cost of 
conducting the several charities, is the construction account. Many 
societies maintain no summer homes. Others at no expense to 
themselves have been presented with such homes, while some have 
erected permanent quarters out of current funds. 

The effort has been made to distinguish carefully between 
building and operating expenses. It will be remembered that ques- 
tion No. 5, of the circular letter, distinctly asked for total expendi- 
tures, "excluding construction expenses." But every society has 
its own method for distributing the items of cost between the two 
accounts. Here is one that aims to keep its running expenses as 
low as possible. Its interpretation of the term construction, enables 
it to charge off to that account, items which another society includes 



24 FR,E>SH AIR CHARITY. 

under the head of operating expenses. Then by combining two 
classes of beneficiaries — day excursionists and country week visi- 
tors — it is able to present an exceedingly low figure for per capita 
cost, and to exclaim in its successive annual reports : "Surely this 
is an economical charity." The fact is, that few Fresh Air charities 
have spent money so generously on buildings and equipment, prob- 
ably because few have had such wealthy patrons. Here is another 
society that represents in its financial statement an opposite extreme. 
Until very recently the organization held no property. On the 
debit side of the account appear along with cost of superintendence, 
wages, transportation, food, rentals and taxes, also brokerage on 
its investments, and the cost of fairs conducted in its behalf. It is 
plain that between two such extreme cases, no reliable per capita or 
per diem average of expense could be struck. Another agency, in 
its annual reports, publishes a summary of its work for several suc- 
cessive years. The only clue to its total expenditures, however, is 
under the head of "contributions." Comparison with the audited 
account for any particular year shows that the balance carried over 
from one year to another is credited to the next year as "contribu- 
tions." This method may serve to flatter the generosity of the 
public, since it swells beyond their true proportions, the annual re- 
ceipts for the enterprise, but to this extent readers of the reports are 
liable to be misled. Obviously here, as elsewhere, it is necessary to 
distinguish the two types of the charity. Those societies that devote 
their energies to day excursions will be able to report the largest 
number of beneficiaries at the least per capita cost. Also as the 
number of these increases, we may expect a corresponding decrease 
in the pro rata expense. 

In the case of societies of the country week type, much will de- 
pend upon the location of the place visited, its distance from the 
city and whether transporation be by rail or by boat; the relative 
number of those entertained under one roof; the propor- 
tion of caretakers to children; the quality and variety of the food; 
whether property is owned or rented ; the form of hospitality, that 
is, whether the children are boarded out, colonized or received as 
invited guests; these and other factors have an important bearing 
upon the matter of expenditure. Sometimes, an item of expense will 
seem abnormally large, ais; where one society reports a charge of 
thirty dollars for transporting its children from the railroad station 
to its home, and seventy-five dollars, or 5 per cent, of its total in- 
come, for the cab hire of its visiting committee. Presumably local 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 25 

conditions furnish abetter warrant for the disproportion than would 
appear at first sight. Naturally, where other things are equal, the 
smaller the country week society, the larger will be the expense per 
capita. But there is a false economy, as well as a true one, and the 
question of small organizations versus large ones must reckon with 
other considerations as well as the pro rata cost of the respective 
enterprises. 

In conclusion, it is to be said that a study of the data of expendi- 
ture, and a comparison with the expense account of other forms of 
charitable effort, leaves the impression that nowhere else in the wide 
field of relief work is more had for the money than here. 1 A large 
amount of the labor performed in connection with the charity is of 
a voluntary character. Collecting moneys, gathering children, fur- 
nishing entertainment, are often done gratuitously. Many persons 
stand ready to give their services to the charity in summer for 
the simple return of board and lodging. Transportation companies 
give reduced rates, merchants contribute supplies or furnish them at 
wholesale prices. No state enterprise could do a similar work at so 
slig'ht a cost. Executive expenses are often reduced to a minimum 
and sometimes guaranteed by patrons of the philanthropy. Seldom 
is the charity open to the charge of extravagance on the showing 
of its operating expenses. More often, one has reason to ask if 
economy in per capita expenditure is not sometimes secured by 
swelling unduly the number of beneficiaries; in other words, by at- 
tempting the work on too wholesale a scale, when, like charitable 
efforts in general, it should be undertaken with the exercise of 
careful discrimination. 

The statistics of beneficiaries and expenditures ought to help us 
in answering the question here raised. Reference to pages 1 1 and 
12, where the names of the societies under consideration are printed 
in full, will furnish a key to the initials employed in the following 
tables. 



1 Occasionally one meets with what looks like a decided exception. 
One society, for example, reports total beneficiaries 3,045, and total ex- 
penditures (excluding construction account), to date, $81,886.35. This 
society receives women who are willing and able to pay the cost of 
board— estimated for them at $3.00. The writer knows of two women of 
culture and means who were received on these terms last summer. Chil- 
dren are received free. 1,604 is the record for ten years. Even granting 
that a considerable part of the total expenditures was for construction — 
although reported otherwise— the fact remains that the per capita cost is 
excessive and that the charity should receive only such adults as cannot 
afford to pay full board elsewhere. 



26 



FRESH AIR CHARITY. 



STATISTICS OF BENEFICIARIES AND EXPENDITURES. 

City and Society To * al Number of Total 

Beneficiaries. Expenditures. 

1 Albany, C. T. M. S 679 $6,077.77 

2 Allegheny City, Y. W. C. A 1,100 a 6,000.00* 

3 Baltimore, O. G. C. C. H 2,634 21,465.50 

4 Baltimore, C. F A. S 887 1,287.71 

5 Baltimore, H. C..S. H 596 2,065.22 

6 Baltimore, H. S. H 140 890.92 

7 Boston, C. W 44,348 190,559.11 

8 Boston, C. M. S 87,800 1 144,059.07 

9 Boston, C. I. S 1,604 2 

10 Boston, E. CM. S 20,000a 18,000.00a 

11 Boston, B. I. S. H 5,490 

12 Boston, B. F. H 5,300 4,575.73 

13 Brooklyn, C. A. S 88,499 3 176,998.00/.* 

14 Brooklyn, W. W. V. S 7,754 13,334.22 

15 Buffalo, F. A. M 6,000a 20,000.00a, 

16 Buffalo, F. A. M. H 240a 4,500.00 a 

17 Chicago, D. N. F. A. F 290,144 4 44,394.69 s 

18 Chicago, L. G. F. A. A 3,451 26,433.97 

19 Chicago, H. F. A. H 700 2,600.00 

20 Cincinnati, F. A. S 9,678 8 18,699.43 

21 Cleveland, C. F. A. C 250 10,000.00 

22 Detroit, A. C 140 200.00 

23 Hartford, C. O. S 4,400a 2,114.95 

24 Hartford, C. M. S 82 242.70 

25 Indianapolis, S. M. S. C 3,137 6,191.47 

26 Milwaukee, A. C 1,000 a 1,200.00 a 

27 Minneapolis, M. O. A. 

28 New Haven, C. M. A 12,000a 3,000.00a 

29 Philadelphia, C. C. W. A. 

30 Philadelphia, S. A 1,409,402 

31 Pittsburg, A. I. C. P. 

32 Portland, F. A. S 1,800a 3,300.00a 

33 Rochester, I. S. H 529 28,000.00a 

34 Salem, A. C 214 1,964.76 

35 Scranton, M. G. St. L. C. 

36 St. Louis, St. L. R 500,000 30,000.00 

37 Worcester. C. M. S. . . 581 405.93 

a Approximate. 
p.e Partly estimated. 

1 Has also distributed 484,011 street-car tickets and 44,691 round- 
trip harbor tickets. 

2 Children only. Women are admitted at $3.00 a week. 

8 As the agent, in Brooklyn, of the Tribune Fresh Air Fund, it has 
also sent some 60,000 women and children on day excursions and about 
12,000 children to the country for a fortnight, through that Fund. 

4 The figures are for years 1890-1895, inclusive. 

6 For years 1890-1893, inclusive, reckoned on the basis of "contri- 
butions." 

6 From 1892 to 1895. 1,205 of the beneficiaries were day excursionists. 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 27 

Age Classification. 

One simple explanation of the strong hold which the philan- 
thropy has taken upon the popular imagination, is the fact that it 
is assumed to concern itself with the sick baby and the young child 
— those morally and physically destitute through no fault of their 
own. 1 Associated from the beginning with the name of Fresh Air 
Charity is the picture of the tenement boy or girl revelling in coun- 
try air or the pining infant revived by cool sea breezes. Is the rep- 
resentation true to life? 

More important, however, than the verification of the popular 
fancy is another question upon which accurate age statistics would 
throw light. The danger, in relief work, of pauperizing morally 
those who are assisted physically, has already been alluded to. 
However it may be with the parents, infants in arms will scarcely dis- 
tinguish the sterilized milk served gratis by a Fresh Air sanatorium 
from the every-day article bought at current rates by the 
family wage-earner. Both source and quality of Fresh Air benefac- 
tions are beyond the conscious calculations of the younger children. 
The same cannot be said of their older brothers and sisters. If a 
vacation in the country is to be had for the asking, or there is to be 
a free picnic nearer home, why) should not they, as well as their 
neighbors, get the benefit of it? However far apart statistics and 
child psychology may be in definition, the manifestations of human 
nature are competent to furnish both sciences with material. 

What do the figures show with respect to the relative numbers 
of adults and children sent away? Does the philanthropy continue 
to be a children's charity? The question may best be answered by 
a study of the latest returns available — those for 1895. 

Of the 37 societies reported outside of New York City, 9 con- 
fined their charitable ministration to children. 4 of the 9 agencies 
were in Baltimore. 28 societies dealt with both adults and children. 
10 of these organizations in the statistics given, do not classify their 
beneficiaries according - to age. Here, apparently, is reason for 
thinking that Fresh Air charity may have ceased to be peculiarly 
for children. Let us examine more closely the following tables. 

1 "It is not for those who have brought their miseries upon them- 
selves, that we appeal — not for the drunkard, the spendthrift, or the pro- 
fligate; it is for the helpless who have done no one any wrong, who, in 
too many instances, are forsaken and friendless in the world, and whose 
sorrows appeal to us with tragic pathos for relief."— N. Y. Times, July 3, 
1872. 



28 



FRESH AIR CHARITY. 



STATISTICS FOR 1895. 

City and Society. Adults. Children. 

1 Albany, C. T. M. S ... 169 

2 Allegheny City, Y. W. C. A. 200 300 

3 Baltimore, O. G. C. C. H. . . ... 406 

4 Baltimore, C. F. A. S ... 480 

5 Baltimore, H. C. S. H. . . ... 199 

6 Baltimore, H. S. M ... 93 

7 Boston, C. W 255 2,527 

8 Boston, C. M. S 

9 Boston, C. I. S ... 215 

10 Boston, E. C. M. S 70 100 

11 Boston, B. I. S. H 

12 Boston, B. F. H 

13 Brooklyn, C. A. S 1,818 4,094 

14 Brooklyn, W. W. V. S. . . 68 54 

15 Buffalo, F. A. M 12 792 

16 Buffalo, F. A. M. H ... 80 

17 Chicago, D. N. F. A. F. . . 30,169 68,108 

18 Chicago, L. G. F. A. A. . . 164 338 

19 Chicago, H. F. A. H 

20 Cincinnati, F. A. S 342 602 

21 Cleveland, C. F. A. C. . . 12 40 

22 Detroit, A. C 40 100 

23 Hartford, C. O. S 

24 Hartford, C. M. S 2 27 

25 Indianapolis, S. M. S. C. . . 22 337 

26 Milwaukee, A. C ... 136 

27 Minneapolis, M. O. A 30 200 

28 New Haven, C. M. A 

29 Philadelphia, C. C. W. A. . 

30 Philadelphia, S. A 46,934 127,547 

31 Pittsburg, A. I. C. P 

32 Portland, F. A. ; S 112 130 

33 Rochester, I. S. H ... 97 

34 Salem, A. C 28 33 

35 Scranton, M. G. St. L. C. . . 32 43 

36 St. Louis, St. L. R 

37 Worcester, C. M. S 

Total 80,310 207,247 



Mixed. 


Total. 




169 




500 




406 




480 




199 




93 




2,782 


9,170 


9,170 




215 


2,500 


2,670 


1,003 


1,003 


3,500 


3,500 




5,912 


181 


303 




804 




80 




98,277 




502 


162 


162 


580 


1,524 




52 




140 


2,000 a 


2,000 




29 




359 




136 




230 


1,500 


1,500 


20,948 


20,948 




174,481 


1,160 


1,160 




242 




97 




61 




75 


25,689 


25,689 


581 


581 



68,974 356,531 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 



29 





ST 


ATISTICS I 


^OR 1895. 


(Concluded.) 






No. Sent 

for 
One Day. 


No. Sent 
for more 

than 
One Day. 


Average 
Stay. 


Total 

Days' 

Outings. 


Expenditures. 


Where Sen 


t. 




169 


2 weeks 


2,366 


$1,399.22 


Home 


1 


.... 


500 


2 weeks 


7,000 


1,800.00a 


Home 


2 


.... 


406 


2 weeks 


5,684 


1,577.14 


Home 


3 


.... 


480 


2 weeks 


6,720 


701.98 


Pri. Fam. 


4 


.... 


199< 


2 weeks 


2,786 


422.17 


Home 


5 


.... 


93 


2 weeks 


1,302 


723.35 


Home 


6 




2,782 


12 days+ 


34,021 


12,712.29 


Pri. Fam. 


7 


9,170 


.... 




9,170 


13,430.37 Exes. & Home 8 




215 


13 days+ a 


2,826 


3,400.00/ 


.e Home 


9 


2,500 


170 


10 days 


4,200 


3,500.00 


Exes. & H. 


10 


141 


862 


6 days 


5,313 


3,645.00 


Home 


11 


3,500 






3,500 


3,342.73 


Excursions 


12 




5,912 


5% days 


32,516 


8,172.54 


Home 


13 


181 


122 


2 weeks 


1,889 


750.82 


Families 


14 




804 


2 weeks 


11,256 


2,500.00a 


H. & P. F. 


15 




80 


2 weeks,? 1 


1,120 


1,500.00a 


Home 


16 


98,277 






98,277 


11,366.75 


Sanatorium 


17 


.... 


502 


2 weeks 


7,028 


4,345.82 


Home 


18 


.... 


162 


2 weeks 


2,268 


365.05 


Home 


19 


580 


944 


17 days+ 2 


16,701 


4,663.72 H. E. & P. F 


20 




52 3 






1,500.00 


Camp 


21 




140 


2 weeks 


1,960 


200.00 


Pri. Fam. 


22 


2,000 






2,000 


466.50 


Exc's. 


23 


.... 


29 


2 weeks 


406 


110.85 


Pri. Fam. 


24 


.... 


359 


6y 2 daysa 


2,348 


1,177.34 


Home 


25 




136 


2 weeks 


1,904 


235.00 


Home 


26 


30^ 


200 a 


2 weeks 


2,830 


200.00 


H. & P. F. 


27 


1,500 a 






1,500 


336.53 


Exc's. 


28 


16,000 a 


4,948 


1 week 


54,636 


16,000.00 a 


P. F. & Exc 


.29 


174,175 


306 


1 week 


176,317 


12,623.96 


Sanatorium 


30 


437 


723 


1 week 


5,498 


3,275.49 


Home 


31 


.... 


242 


1 week 


1,694 


654.00 


Pri. Fam. 


32 


.... 


97 


9 days 4 


880 


1,750.00 


Home 


33 




61 


2 weeks+ 


861 


680.92 


Pri. Fam. 


34 




75 


2 weeks 


1,050 


454.61 


Home 


35 


25,689 


.... 




25,689 


2,048.08 


Exc's. 


36 


450 


131 


2 weeks 


2,284 
537,800 


405.93 


Pri. Fam. 


37 


334,630 


21,901 


9.27 days 


$122,438.16 





1 Later information leads us to think this an underestimate. 

2 Exact total, 2,303 weeks. 

8 Retained till convalescent. 

* 30 were sent for one week and 67 for ten days. 



30 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

A comparison of totals in the foregoing tables, shows adults, 22.5 
per cent. ; children, 58.1 per cent. ; and mixed or unclassified, 19.3 per 
cent. There were 80,310 adults to 207,247 children, or about two 
adults to five children. Our final conclusion as to the actual pro- 
portion of one to the other, prevailing throughout the charity as a 
whole, will depend upon the composition of the 19 per cent, unclassi- 
fied. Have we any -means by which these 68,974 persons, set down 
as "mixed," can be distributed among the adults and children with 
approximate accuracy? Three of the societies whose combined 
totals make up 80 per cent, of the beneficiaries classified as mixed, 
are known to deal chiefly with children. One of these, the St. Louis 
agency, declares the ratio of its own work to be one woman to five 
children. We think of no similar work where the proportion of 
adults is so small. Probably it is easily within bounds to say that 
the general ratio sustained on the average for the thirty-seven 
societies was one adult to two and a half or three children, say, four 
adults to eleven children. 

One other thing remains to be considered, and that is, the re- 
lation of many of these adults to the children. As a matter of fact, 
they are very frequently present, chiefly in the capacity of care- 
takers. This is especially true in the case of the day excursions. 
Country week societies seldom depend upon parents to act as the 
guardians of their own children during the holiday. In the work 
of the Philadelphia Sanitarium Assocation, where the ratio is one 
adult to nearly three children, as well as on the excursions of the 
St. Louis Republic, the child is the center of interest. 

In New York City, where we are able through more perfect rec- 
ords to classify all the beneficiaries of the general societies, with 
a single exception, 28.9 per cent, of these are adults. The St. 
John's Guild which alone receives more than half the adults re- 
ported, is distinctly a children's charity. 

The foregoing analysis is sufficient to make it clear that so far, 
at least, as the general, non-sectarian societies are concerned, this 
philanthropy maintains its original character as the children's 
friend. The fact that so many of its wards are infants and very 
young children sufficiently accounts for the presence of so large a 
proportion of adults in the enumeration of total beneficiaries. 
Farther than this it is impossible to go with our age classifications. 
Fresh Air societies seldom attempt more than the rough distribu- 
tion discussed above. In the case of country week societies which 
send children away for a prolonged holiday, the ages usually range 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 31 

from six or seven years to ten or twelve. It is often with the day 
excursionist that the greatest variety of ages is permissible. The 
adult caretaker is necessarily in evidence and her dependents range 
from the baby in her arms and the toddling youngster tugging at 
her skirts up to the "little mother" of ten or twelve. 

A notable exception to the absence of specific age classification 
is afforded by the Philadelphia Sanitarium Association. This 
society is in the habit of summarizing its statistics for previous 
years under the heads: "Adults," "Infants under two years," "Be- 
tween two and five years," "Between five and ten years," "Over ten 
years." In 1895 the proportions were as follows: Adults, 27 per 
cent; infants under two, 17.6 per cent; between two and five, 2J 
per cent. ; between five and ten, 24 per cent. ; over ten, 4 per cent. 
In the early days of the charity, the percentage of children over ten 
years of age was about ten per cent, or twice what it has been of late. 
The ratio of adults to children has ranged from one adult to less than 
three children at one time, to one of the former to four of the latter 
at another. 

That all this is not a mere refinement of classification will ap- 
pear from the light which such statistics shed upon a single question 
— the danger of pauperization. The last mentioned charity does its 
work by wholesale. The conditions of admission to its privileges 
are simple in the extreme. "Young children with proper caretakers 
on presenting themselves at the boat are taken without tickets or 
other requirements." What is the society's interpretation of the 
term — "young children?" The data are at hand for answering the 
inquiry. Only 4 per cent, of the children were over ten years of age, 
and nearly two-thirds of them were under five. The large propor- 
tion of very young children does much to save the philanthropy 
from the danger attendant upon free picnics of a more indiscrim- 
inate charity. How far parents, able to pay their children's wa\, 
take advantage of such generous provisions for daily river excur- 
sions, statistics cannot answer. 

Sex. 

Not much is to be said on this point. The proportion of boys 
and girls is less frequently noted than the ratio of adults to children. 
On the whole, girls seem to have a decided advantage over boys. 
That the former are the more amenable to discipline, especially 
within the age limits generally recognized by societies of the coun- 
try week type, accounts for the discrepancy in their favor. Men 



32 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

are seldom a factor. The term 'adults" for statistical purposes may 
be regarded as equivalent to "women." 

Two Classes of Fresh Air Societies. 

The misleading character of the number representing the "total 
beneficiaries" in this work, has been previously discussed. The 
inadequacy of the term, as already pointed out, arises from the fact 
that it fails to discriminate between the two types of Fresh Air re- 
lief. The total number of persons given outings in 1895 by the 
37 societies under consideration was 356,531. How many 
of these enjoyed single-day excursions? How many were given a 
holiday in the country or at the seashore for several days or a fort- 
night? Our statistical returns, when properly distributed between 
the two classes of Fresh Air societies, will enable us to answer the 
query. While it is true that many agencies engage in both forms of 
the work, it is equally true that the one type or the other predom- 
inates in each case. It is not difficult, therefore, to fairly classify 
the societies. When the beneficiaries of the charity are thus dis- 
tributed in the two groups : "Number sent for one day," and "Num- 
ber sent for more than one day," the nature of the work in general, 
or that of any society in particular, is readily determined. Here, as 
in so many forms of philanthropy, the inquiry suggests itself 
whether it is better to do much for a few, or a little for many. Later 
it will be in order to discuss the relative advantages of the two 
types of relief. Just now we are concerned with the facts of the 
case — the actual number of day excursionists, and also of those who 
enjoyed the privileges of country week, the average length of holi- 
day afforded the latter, and the relative proportion of societies and 
beneficiaries of the two classes. 

Of the 37 Fresh Air societies enumerated outside the 
city of New York, only 6 would appear from the table to con- 
fine their attention to day excursions. Two of these, however, are 
known to provide for a few cases of the second type. 22 
agencies report work of the country week type, while 9 furnish 
statistics referring to both classes of beneficiaries. These 9 
again, may be distributed among the two types according to the 
proportion of days' outings actually furnished in the one case or 
the other. But two of these 9 societies really belong to the first 
class. The result of the analysis, then, shows: 

Societies of the "Excursion" type 8 

Societies of the "Country Week" type 29 

Total 37 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 33 

While thus the advantage in number of societies lies so de- 
cidedly with the country week form of the benevolence, the case is 
quite different in the number of beneficiaries of the two types. 
334,630 was the number sent for a single day, against 21,901 sent 
for a longer period. It should be said that the former figure does 
not mean so many different individuals. Undoubtedly, there were 
many who enjoyed single day's outings several times over. The 
point is that the persons were not given lodging, but were returned 
to their own quarters at night, and were counted again when they 
were next sent away, although this might well be on the succeed- 
ing day. 

How many distinct individuals compose these 334,630 day ex- 
cursionists there is nothing to determine. It is quite possible that the 
aggregate of days' outings in many cases may have exceeded the 
average length of holiday provided by some of the country week so- 
cieties. Sometimes what are practically season tickets are issued to 
specially deserving beneficiaries. Our statistical resources oblige us 
to regard the days' outings provided as the' sole clue to the number 
of excursionists. With this qualification in mind, the data at hand 
may be said to show that more than fifteen times as many persons 
were sent for the day as were sent for a country visit. The distri- 
bution of these excursionists by cities is significant. Philadelphia, 
Chicago and St. Louis provided outings for nearly 300,000 of the 
entire number. It is the wholesale scale on which their three 
agencies of the first type operate, that establishes the great dispro- 
portion between the number of beneficiaries credited to the two 
classes of Fresh Air societies. 

Judging from the geographical distribution of the charity, one 
might conclude that the country week type was the more in favor. 
21 out of the 23 cities here enumerated report Fresh Air societies of 
the second class. New Haven and St. Louis are the two exceptions. 
On the other hand, 1 1 cities out of the 23 return 15 agencies as giv- 
ing outings of the first type, but in 5 of the cities only is the day ex- 
cursion the predominating type among these 15 societies. 

The 21,901 beneficiaries belonging to societies of class II., re- 
ceived a total of 203,170 days' outings in 1895. This was an average 
of 9.27 days to each person. The averages reported by the indi- 
vidual organizations ranged from 5^ days to "convalescence." The 
longest specified term was 17 days. The more usual length of stay 
was two weeks. 18 societies give holidays of this average duration. 
It has been assumed that the term "two weeks" alwavs means a 



34 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

period of 14 days. There is reason to think, however, that in some 
cases the term is used rather for convenience than accuracy. Both 
the day of arrival and that of departure may be counted in the esti- 
mate, or those sent on a Monday may return on the second Satur- 
day. Then again, vacancies occur before the expiration of the fort- 
night. Children grow homesick and are sent away, or are called 
home by trouble or sickness in their families. Other children may 
be sent to fill their places in the country. Probably both sets of 
children will be credited in the society's report with having enjoyed 
the average number of days' outings furnished to the other benefi- 
ciaries. These exaggerations are partially balanced by the fact that 
some societies keep special cases longer than the specified time. 
We have yet to find an instance where an organization has deliber- 
ately underestimated its work, statistically. 

Notwithstanding what has been said, we need have no fear that 
the totals arrived at, exaggerate in any degree the volume of Fresh 
Air relief given in the country at large. For 37 agencies in 23 cities 
(not counting New York) to have provided half a million days' out- 
ings to the sick and destitute poor in a single year is no 'mean show- 
ing. Were we to add to these general Fresh Air societies the nu- 
merous churches and benevolent agencies which are actively at 
work in this field of philanthropy, an enlarged conception of the 
work would be obtained. 

Cost per Capita, 1895. 

A vital matter with any form of philanthropic endeavor is the 
expense account. Those forms of relief which deal with certain in- 
dividuals of a particular group in society and which can be admin- 
istered at not too great a cost per capita, may safely be left to private 
philanthropy. Yet the demands for assistance have at times proved 
so pressing and widespread, as to baffle the efforts of the generously 
disposed. Or again, an experiment undertaken by a company of 
benevolent individuals may have been so successful as to call for 
the adoption of its aims and methods by the State. If the time 
should ever come when the municipality should find it expedient to 
subsidize a scheme of summer outings for the children of the poor, 1 
the experience of the voluntary Fresh Air societies would furnish 
valuable standards of comparison for the enterprise. Not the least 

1 There are signs that the wedge of state-help has already been in- 
serted in behalf of Fresh Air charity. The line of least resistance is 
naturally found in the hospital work of the charity. In Boston, in 1896, 
the municipality assumed the expenses of a sanatorium for infants 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 35 

important of these would be the limits within which expenditure 
may properly move. We may hope, however, that private philan- 
thropy will continue to prove itself able to cope with the situation. 
The present drafts made upon voluntary Fresh Air agencies may 
be approximately ascertained by a study of the expenditures of the 
societies under consideration, for 1895. 

It is assumed that in the statistics of expenditure for the current 
year as well as for previous years, only running expenses are in- 
cluded. Probably such is not always the case. Even if it were, 
there is here again the latitude of interpretation as to what properly 
may be considered running expenses. In the attempt to arrive at 
an approximate standard of comparison in the cost of this work, 
care must be taken to consider the two types of agencies, separately. 
The per capita expense for excursionists manifestly will not serve 
as a unit of measurement when considering the expense of sending 
children on a visit to the country. 

First, as to the cost of day excursions. Even here we may be 
prepared to find a considerable variety in the range of expenditure 
on the part of individual societies. In 1895, St. Louis gave 25,689 
women and children a day's outing at a total cost of $2,048.08. The 
number of excursionists was the greatest and the pro rata expense 
the smallest in the society's experience. The beneficiaries are trans- 
ported by boat to the country, where the day is spent. "Children 
are selected by a paid visitor, through city missions and charitable 
organizations." The per capita expense as reported for 1895 was 
almost exactly 8 cents. 

The Chicago Daily News Fresh Air Fund cared for 30,169 
mothers, 47,551 children and 20,557 sick babies in 1895. The cost 

which had previously been supported by voluntary contributions. The 
conduct of the enterprise still remained in private hands. 

In 1894, the Legislature of the State of New York passed the follow- 
ing act, appropriating public funds: 

"To St. John's Guild of the City of New York, the sum of thirty 
thousand dollars to be applied to the maintenance and operation of its 
hospitals, to the support of its other charitable work and to the general 
uses and purposes of said society, and to the Sanitarium for Hebrew 
Children in the City of New York, the sum of five thousand dollars to be 
applied to the support of its charitable work." (Laws of the State of 
New York, 1894, Vol. II., Chapter 501.) 

St. John's Guild (Annual Report, 1894) finds cause for self-congratu- 
lation that the society had been "favored with a place in the lists of 
organizations deemed to be entitled to aid from the City Treasury in 
its charitable appropriations." In 1895, however, the management re- 
ported: "It is not without some discouragement that those in charge of 
the affairs of the Guild realize that the contributions to our funds have 
fallen off to an amount nearly equal to the city's aid." 



36 FREiSH AIR CHARITY. 

of the work was $11,366.75. The beneficiaries as a rule get them- 
selves to the Sanitarium, located on the Lake Shore of Lincoln 
Park. "There are no 'processes' or 'conditions' necessary to secure 
treatment." The food furnished is of the simplest character and 
much of it is donated by a single baking company. Four physi- 
cians, each for an hour a day, are in attendance at the Sanitarium, 
while three others are available for consultation. This service is 
voluntary. In addition, there is a house staff of four doctors and a 
corps of nurses regularly employed. The "hospital cases" num- 
bered 3,533, — 33 of whom died. The expenses of the executive man- 
agement of this charity are met by the Daily News and were, in 1895, 
$3,386.09, while $7,980.66 were expended "on account of Lincoln 
Park Sanitarium." The per capita cost of the entire enterprise was 
11^ cents. 

The Philadelphia Sanitarium Association reports the largest 
number of beneficiaries of any Fresh Air agency — the enormous 
total of 174,481 persons. The operating expenses of the charity 
were $12,623.96. The following were the chief items of expense. 
Maintenance of the two steamers plying between the city and Red 
Bank, N. J., $5,616.74. Food supply, $1,270.09. Salaries and 
wages of Sanitarium staff, $2,457.14. The per capita cost was 7.2 
cents. The transportation expense was a little more than 3 cents 
and the cost of food less than one cent for each individual. This 
average covers also the treatment of 179 hospital cases, who, with 
127 caretakers, remained at the Sanitarium on an average, one week. 

We have discussed these three forms of Fresh Air relief not so 
much for the purpose of comparison as to show how small the 
cost per capita may be made when distributed among a host of bene- 
ficiaries. 

The Charity Organization Society of Hartford and the New 
Haven City Missionary Society both report approximately the 
same number of day excursionists. The per capita expense of the 
former was 23 cents, that of the latter 22 cents. The work of the 
Boston City Missionary Society is apparently an exception to this 
standard of economy. 9,170 beneficiaries classified as day excur- 
sionists are represented as having cost the society $13,430.37. The 
statistics are misleading. Thousands of tickets for street cars and 
harbor excursions were distributed by the organization and a hun- 
dred or more women and children sent on a visit to the society's own 
cottage in Maine. 

The only other agency whose beneficiaries would appear to be- 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 37 

long exclusively to the type of day excursionists is the Floating 
Hospital of Boston, where the cost per capita in 1895 was nearly 
$1.00. The plan of the work is similar to that of the New York so- 
ciety, whose example the Boston Floating Hospital is avowedly fol- 
lowing. The greater proportionate expense of the latter's work is 
doubtless due to the difference in the scale of operations and the 
lack of permanent equipment. 

Two conclusions may be drawn from the above analysis of ex- 
penditures for Fresh Air work of the first type. Much depends 
upon the character of the outing, that is, whether it is primarily re- 
creational or recuperative. Hospital treatment will considerably 
enhance the cost of the philanthropy. On the other hand, no one 
factor is of such influence in reducing pro rata expenditure as doing 
the work by wholesale. 

For the analysis of the expense account of country week socie- 
ties, it is possible to select agencies which possess at least two 
features in common. 6 cities report 8 societies which entertain their 
beneficiaries in "Homes" for two weeks in each case. 



City. 

Albany 

Allegheny 

Baltimore: — 

Orange Grove 
Hollywood . . 
Hopewell 

Chicago 

Milwaukee 

Scranton 



The analysis shows a wide range of expenditure, varying from 
$1.72 per capita for a fortnight's vacation to $8.65. The minimum 
is so small as to make it evident that there is a factor missing from 
the calculation. To be sure, transportation is free and much of 
the service voluntary, but on the other hand, rent is a fixed charge. 
The Albany society also pays rent. The Lake Geneva work is 
for both children and working girls. Transportation is a consider- 
able item of expense. The variation in the expenditures of these 
eight societies is wide enough to make the average, $5.26 per capita, 
for two weeks' outing, of doubtful value as a unit of measurement 

We may compare with these figures the averages of certain of 



Beneficiaries. 


Expenditure. 


Average 
Per Week. 


Average 
Per Capita. 


169 


$1,399.22 


$4 J 3 


$8.27 


500 


1,800.00 a 


1.80 


3.60 


406 


1,577.14 


1.94 


3.88 


199 


422.17 


1.06 


2.12 


93 


723.35 


3.88 


7.77 


502 


4,345.82 


4.32 


8.65 


136 


235.00 


.86 


1.72 


75 


454.61 


3.03 


6.06 


2,080 


$10,957.31 


$2.63a» 


$5.2&z 



38 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

the New York societies. In 1895, the Tribune Fund maintained, at 
its own charges, two summer colonies. The Life Fund under the 
same management also conducted a large colony. Exclusive of cost 
of transportation the showing is: — 

Per Capita 
Children. Total Expense. for 

„, ., Two Weeks. 

Tribune:— 

Ashford Hill Colony 1,099 $2,979.50 $2.71 

Eunice Home Colony 475 1,613.49 3.39 

Life's Farm Colony 1,180 3,935.79 3.33 

If we attempt to reduce to the common denominator of a fort- 
night's outing the work of other New York societies supporting 
Summer Homes, the results, reckoned on the basis of their average 
per diem expenditures in 1895, are: — 

Average J^^A, 
Society. Beneficiaries. Cost Estimated 

perdien, £&& 

All Souls' 600 $ .69 $9.66 

Summer Shelter of Morristown 180 .62 8.68 

Lana ac Tela Society 280 .40 5.60 

Christian Herald Home 2,378 .37 5.18 



The "personal equation" of each society, which will explain in a 
measure the variation in the averages as thus estimated, will be 
given in its proper place. 

Quite as difficult is it to arrive at any fair estimate of the averages 
for societies which send their beneficiaries to private families, either 
as invited guests or as boarders. The Children's Fresh Air Society, 
of Baltimore, which relies upon free entertainment for its wards, 
reports for 1895 the per capita cost of a two weeks' outing as $1.49. 
The Tribune's averages vary from $1.83, the average cost per capita 
in 1892, when its work was at its maximum, to $3.55 in 1880, when 
not more than 2,500 beneficiaries were sent away. These figures 
represent chiefly traveling expenses. 

Of the societies which pay board for their beneficiaries, the 
Hartford City Missionary Society reports its rate for children in 
1896 as $2.00 a week, or $4.00 per capita for the fortnight. 
The Salem Associated Charities pay at the rate of $5.00 for children 
and $6.00 for adults for two weeks. The reports of the Boston 
Country Week show that the charge for board for two or three 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 39 

years past has been at the rate of about 40 cents a day, or $2.80 a 
week. 

Enough has been said to show how variable a quantity, average 
per capita cost really is. We are forced to the conclusion that no 
exact standard or general average is obtainable from the data in 
hand. If the quest is unsuccessful where the conditions are most 
nearly alike, it is useless to attempt comparisons between societies 
engaged in both forms of the charity and in varying proportions. 

The most that can be said is that each organization has its own 
individuality, its own "standard of living." Societies publishing 
annual reports usually include an itemized financial statement. This 
serves to show the conditions under which the work is carried on. 
In many instances, the practical policy adopted is to cut the Fresh 
Air coat according to the cloth. The resources of a society often 
seem to have quite as much to do with determining what form its 
Fresh Air relief shall take, as have any well thought out theories 
about the advantages of one form over another. In short, income 
plays a large part in deciding the nature and the extent of the 
philanthropy. Where resources are abundant, two dangers are 
present here as well as in other forms of charitable work. They are 
allied. One is often the cause of the other. The first is indiscrimin- 
ate giving; the second, the creation of an artificial need. Any dis- 
cussion of these points may well be reserved. 

The Form of Entertainment. 

Perhaps there is no point upon which the organizers of Fresh 
Air charity are more divided than upon the kind of hospitality that 
is best for their wards. Whatever the individual theories, it is worth 
while to observe the actual practice of the societies as a whole. 

Where organizations adopt more than one method of entertain- 
ment, each will be counted separately as if it were the sole method 
employed. The classification, therefore, includes each form as often 
as it finds illustration in practice. 

Outside In 
N.Y. New Total. 
City. York. 

Sent on Excursions .... 8 ) 

?s -{ or [■ 7 17 

Received at Sanatoriums 2 ) 

At Homes 1 22 13 35 

In Private Families 12 1 13 



"Country Week" outings, 



Total 44 21 65 

1 One of the Homes is called a "Camp." The use of tents is unique. 



40 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

The word sanatorium is used in this connection for charities 
which combine the excursion feature with medical treatment. The 
word Home is used as a general term to cover all degrees of "col- 
onization" or the grouping of numbers of children at a given place. 
Each society is in control of the Home it occupies, either by virtue 
of purchase, gift, loan or rental. Sometimes these Homes partake 
of the character of children's nurseries or hospitals. 1 

Entertainment in private families may be of three sorts. 
Occasionally, beneficiaries are sent away to visit friends. Some- 
times they go to strangers, as invited guests. More often they 
are boarded — frequently on farms. The Country Week, of Boston, 
which works entirely through families, thus distributed its benefi- 
cence in 1895: 

Sent to friends 125 4.4 per cent. 

Invited, as guests 356 12.7 per cent. 

Boarded 2,301 82.7 per cent. 

The Fresh Air Society, of Cincinnati, avails itself of both the 
private family and the Home. It gives these statistics for 1895: 

Sent to friends 89 9.4 per cent. 

Entertained at the Home 353 37.3 per cent. 

Boarded on farms 502 53.1 per cent. 

Of the 14 General Fresh Air Societies in New York City, the 
Tribune alone utilizes the hospitality of private families. Of late 
years, however, more and more of its own children have been sent 
to Homes. In 1895, the Tribune Fund availed itself of twelve such 
Homes. 

Of the 8,000 children sent out by the Fund more than half were 
"colonized." Mr. Parsons' children, sent to private families, go either 
as invited guests or to their own relatives or friends in the country. 
The Fund does not pay board for its wards. The Children's Coun- 
try Week Association, of Philadelphia, on the contrary, sends away 
the larger share of its beneficiaries as boarders. Except in the 
case of the Tribune and one or two of the smaller societies, "board- 
ing out" seems the practice most in vogue among agencies utilizing 
family life rather than institutional influences. Statistics go to 
prove that in the case of Country Week societies, there are 35 in- 
stances where the children are colonized to 13 instances where 

1 It has not been feasible to attempt nice distinction between Fresh 
Air charities of the hospital type, and other forms. The two are so often 
combined or overlap that exact classification is impracticable. Only- 
charities confining their activity to the summer are included. 



STATISTICS OF FRESH AIR SOCIETIES. 41 

they are sent into families, and that where the latter is the case, with 
the exception of the Tribune, the payment of board is the rule rather 
than reliance upon free entertainment. 

Doubtless the exigencies of a rapidly growing charity have done 
much to shape both the method and structure of Fresh Air relief. 
It remains to discuss the relative merits of the various forms of the 
philanthropy. Before doing so, it will be in order to consider the 
•charity as it exists in a single city, that of New York. 



CHAPTER III. 

FRESH AIR RELIEF IN NEW YORK CITY. 

So far our attention has been chiefly confined to a bird's-eye 
view of Fresh Air charity in the country at large. In the study of 
the work as carried on in New York, a more complete description of 
its representative forms as well as fuller statistics will be practic- 
able. 

New York City offers a rich field for the investigation of Fresh 
Air Relief. The local conditions have been peculiarly favorable to 
the development of the charity. Here is an immense tenement- 
house population. Here, of all cities in the world, is the greatest 
density of population to an acre. 1 Here is peculiarly the birth- 
place of the American slum. 2 Here are hordes of recent immi- 
grants huddled together in small national groups. The streets of 
the tenement sections swarm with children by day and by night. 
The stoop and the sidewalk are the recreation ground of mothers 
and their babies. The saloon or the "cafe"" is the social club of 
fathers and sons. The fire escape and the roof afford refuge for 
those in search of fresh air denied them in their own ill-ventilated 
quarters. 3 

What wonder that such conditions have appealed to the gener- 
ously disposed in a community where the role of Dives and Lazarus 
is daily enacted in real life. Thanks to a growing sense of muni- 
cipal responsibility, eternal vigilance seems just now the motto of 
those entrusted with the sanitary protection of the city. The mor- 
tality of children under five years of age has steadily decreased 
since the organization of the Board of Health. 4 

1 This statement is strictly true only for Manhattan Island. There 
are, however, districts more dense than any that are known to exist 
elsewhere. (See "Report of the Tenement-House Committee of 1894," 
pp. 10, 256, 257.) 

a "According to the best estimates, the total slum population of Bal- 
timore is about 25,000; of Chicago, 162,000; of New York, 360,000; of 
Philadelphia, 35,000." ("Seventh Special Report of the Commissioner of 
Labor, 1894," The Slums of Great Cities, p. 12. ) 

8 One of the evidences of this is the number of deaths caused by falls 
from fire-escapes. From 1880 to 1895, there were 237 such fatalities, 
while for the first three quarters of 1896, there were 24, 17 of these being 
in the third or summer quarter. (Memorandum furnished by Dr. Roger 
S. Tracy, Register of Records, New York Health Department.) 

4 The Death-rate of children under 5, in 1870, was 119.9; in 1875, 115.9;. 
in 1880, 104.4; in 1890, 99.0; in 1895, 86.5. Ibid. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 43 

Voluntary agencies have cooperated to the same end. One of 
the forms of private endeavor most in evidence is Fresh Air relief. 
So extensively has this summer charity developed that it is probably 
true to-day, that no sick baby need die for want of sea air and medi- 
cal treatment, nor need any ailing child go without an outing in the 
country or by the ocean because the parent is too poor to provide it. 
Whether such a statement is within bounds, one may judge for him- 
self after a review of the statistics on the subject. It can be true, of 
course, only on condition that the Fresh Air relief available be fairly 
distributed. 

We have already alluded to the advantage which an inquiry like 
the present one has in such a city as New York. It is possible, for 
example, in this case, to collect data concerning the activity of the 
general Fresh Air societies from the beginning of their work. 
Many of these, to be sure, compile no comprehensive summaries, 
nor is there always a clear distinction drawn in the annual totals 
between day excursionists and weekly visitors. Rarely are total 
days' outings reported, except to give the average length of time 
for which it is customary to send beneficiaries. However, personal 
correspondence and interviews with the officers of the societies, to- 
gether with a comparison of their reports, have made it possible to 
compile tables that are presented with considerable confidence in 
their essential accuracy. 

Again, as has been said, an exhibition of the activity of churches 
and other agencies ministering to their respective constituencies, 
is quite possible within the area of a single city. Even here it has 
been necessary to rest content with the data of but one year. 

A third form of the philanthropy, possessing certain unique fea- 
tures which put it in a class by itself, is the vacation society for 
working girls. This important branch of the charity is also made 
an object of special inquiry in New< York City. The subject at this 
point, then, naturally divides itself into three parts : 

I. General and Non-Sectarian Fresh Air Societies. 
II. Parochial Fresh Air Agencies. 

III. Working Girls' Vacation Societies. 

The work of only the first of these three, may be fairly com- 
pared with the similar work already reviewed. 

A brief description of the salient features of the work in its var- 
ious forms may serve as an introduction to the statistical data. 

There is scarcely any plan of operation known to the charity that 
is without representation in the work of the 14 General Societies 



44 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

here enumerated. 1 An account of their methods of procedure will, 
therefore, very well illustrate the modus operandi of Fresh Air 
work at large. 

Si. John's Guild. — In 1895, St. John's Guild had just passed 
its twenty-first birthday as an independent organization. The 
present methods of the Guild may therefore be regarded as the 
fruit of mature experience. The character of the larger part of its 
summer work is clearly indicated in the name of its huge barge — 
the "Floating Hospital." From the start, the society has singled 
out the sick child as its primary concern. During the hot months, 
the Floating Hospital makes six trips a week — weather permitting 
— to the Lower Bay. Physicans at the city hospitals and dispen- 
saries, or at work among the poor, are supplied with tickets admit- 
ting to the privileges of the barge. Any poor mother with a sick 
baby or young child may avail herself of these tickets. Well chil- 
dren, too young to be left at home, are allowed to accompany their 
parents. The barge makes three landings along the river front, 
on each trip. One day the landings will be on the east side of the 
city, and the next day, on the west side. 

The Guild's hospitality — using the word in its literal sense — is 
thus brought as close as possible to the doors of the poor. 1,500 
persons may be comfortably cared for on each excursion. A physi- 
cian from the Board of Health is in attendance, especially to guard 
against the admission of contagious diseases. If a case chances to 
run the gantlet of the examination at the dock, the hospital physi- 
cian, who begins his rounds as soon as the boat heads for the 
harbor, is sure to detect it, and the child is isolated. The doctor and 
his staff of trained nurses note the needs of each family group and 
make prompt provision to meet them. The sickest babies are sent 
to the wards. Here they are deposited in comfortable cribs and as- 
sured special attention. Much reliance is placed upon the sea air 
as a tonic. The Floating Hospital is equipped with abundant bath- 
ing facilities. The babies first receive attention. Then come the 
younger children. The mothers also have their turn. Fresh wash- 
rags, as well as clean towels, are supplied for each bather. 11,043 
salt water baths was the record of the hospital in 1895. A hot meal 
is served at noon to the adults and older children, and sterilized 
milk twice daily for the babies. The Floating Hospital's 
destination is New Dorp, Staten Island, where is located 

1 None of them in 1895 boarded its wards with private families in 
the country, although the Life Fund formerly did so. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 45 

the Guild's Seaside Hospital, capable of accommodating 300 pa- 
tients. To this are transferred the more serious cases, with the 
mothers who are to assist in the care of their children. In 
this way, provision is made for more permanent treatment. It 
should be said, however, that many of those on the barge who can- 
not be spared from home over night, are given "season tickets" 
good for a succession of trips. A sick child may thus be taken on 
the water several times a week. 

Not the least valuable feature of the work is the instruction 
given the mothers in the proper care of their infants. Bathing, pre- 
paration of food, reliance upon nature's restoratives as well as upon 
drugs — all these lessons are taught the mothers in this great floating 
clinic. 

Children's Aid Society. — The New York Children's Aid So- 
ciety is by no means solely a Fresh Air agency, yet in seeking to 
find ways in which to prove itself the children's friend, it was 
among the first to take up Fresh Air work as one instrument to 
carry out its purpose. 

The society now maintains both a "Health Home" at West 
Coney Island, and a "Summer Home" at Bath Beach, L. I. To the 
former are sent young children and infants, more or less ailing, and 
their mothers. The work here is curative rather than recreational. 
At the Summer Home the children of its industrial schools receive a 
holiday of from one to six days. The first week after the Home is 
opened is devoted to picnic parties largely composed of the boys of 
the schools, the older of whom are not received as weekly guests. 
The latter are entertained from Monday until Saturday. This is the 
length of stay permitted also at the Health Home. If specially in 
need of a longer vacation, visitors may return for a second week. 

The children at the Summer Home are supplied with various 
means of entertainment, such as swings, merry-go-round, camera 
obscura, gravity railroad, and abundant bathing facilities. Com- 
fortably furnished quarters are provided where girls indisposed may 
take themselves away from their mates. Books and papers are at 
hand. Two features of the place impress the casual visitor as 
unique. One is the location of the bath-houses, which are on the 
second floor, over one of the dormitories. This arrangement econo- 
mizes space and enables the ingenious superintendent, Mr. Fry, to 
carry out his theory that children's dormitories should be on the 
first floor to avoid all danger from possible panics. Another in- 
vention of the superintendent is the method of seating the children 



4G FRESH AIR CHARITY 

at their meals. Open circular tables, not unlike a horseshoe in gen- 
eral shape, are used for the purpose. A small table within the en- 
closure of the larger one, gives a place of deposit for the dishes 
from which the children are to be served. By seating the girls both 
within and without the horseshoe table, fifty are accommodated in a 
comparatively small space and the problem of helping them much 
simplified. The tables are of hard wood, highly polished. Cloths 
are unnecessary. Economy and neatness are both subserved, while 
the angularity so often seen in the dining arrangements of large 
institutions, is entirely absent. 

While the Summer Home of the society is enjoyed chiefly by 
the wards of its own industrial schools, toward the close of the 
season room is found for children from some of the missions of the 
city. Mention must be made of the cottage provided for crippled 
girls, a group of whom spend several weeks at the Home, living out- 
of-doors and entering more or less into the life of the place. The 
preference of the superintendent as shown by the buildings more re- 
cently erected, is plainly for the "cottage system" over that of large 
dormitories. The effort is to de-institutionalize so far as possible, 
by breaking up into small family groups. That the cottage system 
may itself be carried to extremes, seems to find illustration at the 
Health Home of the society. In the effort to isolate family groups 
the difficulty of maintaining both peace and cleanliness, particularly 
among the more ignorant of the foreign born, has been enhanced. 
There is a happy medium in this matter which the society evidently 
appreciates and means to secure. 

Sanitarium for Hebrew Children. — Although the St. John's 
Guild, the Children's Aid Society, and others of the General Fresh 
Air Societies 1 in New York, know neither nationality nor creed in 
the exercise of their hospitality, it was to be expected that difficul- 
ties would arise, in the very attempt to disregard racial and religious 
distinctions. Especially is this true where Christians and Hebrews 
are entertained at thq same time. The strict dietary laws of the 
orthodox Jew can scarcely be carried out except under the auspices 
of his own coreligionists. Originally the barge of the St. John's 
Guild was placed at the disposal of Jewish mothers and their sick 
children on certain days of the month. The arrangement proved 
inadequate. Although the Floating Hospital continues to carry 
hosts of Jewish children and their caretakers, provision is also 
made for such by the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 47 

It was in 1877, that the foundation of the work under Hebrew 
auspices was laid, in a single excursion by water. The president of 
the society said at the dedication of the Sanitarium building: 
"During our brief existence over 125,000 persons have been under 
our care." 1 This was in 1892. Up to this time, reliance had been 
placed upon the benefit to be derived from day excursions. By the 
opening of a permanent building, the Sanitarium was able to de- 
velop its hospital work and to retain cases at its Home for several 
days' treatment. 

The work of the society at present is of three kinds. Each week 
a water excursion is given to some grove where a landing is made. 
Music is furnished on these occasions. Physicians are in atten- 
dance to care for any sick ones. The excursionists are allowed to 
carry luncheons, but each basket is examined to see that the food 
is of a proper kind. In addition, the society provides for its wards a 
list of good things, such as milk, bread, sandwiches, cake and ice 
cream. The water excursions in 1895 carried on the average 737 
persons, or a total of 6,632 mothers and children in the ratio of about 
1 to 3. The per capita expense was 23J cents. 

The Sanitarium kept open its building at Rockaway Park, from 
the middle of June to the middle of September. During these 
three months 803 patients were received. 51 ailments are cited in 
the report of the house physician. The layman may well echo 
the sentiments expressed to the writer by one of the officers of 
the society, that until he read the physician's report he did not know 
that there were so many children's diseases in existence. 

Of the 803 persons received as patients by the Sanitarium, 438 
were born in Russia, and 305 in the United States (presumably of 
Russian parentage, largely). England, Austro-Hungary, Germany 
and Roumania had each from 11 to 20 representatives. 

As a third form of its activity, the society sends many excur- 
sionists to Rockaway Park by train. An opportunity is afforded for 
ocean bathing. That the Hebrew Sanitarium treats its wards with 
great liberality will appear from this extract from one of its recent 
reports: "Car fare, ferry tickets, and railroad transportation are 
furnished free to all attending the excursions — thus no poor person 
can say they cannot afford to avail themselves of the benefits offered 
by our Society." 

1 Fifteenth Annual Report, 1893, p. 36. In the absence of more de- 
tailed statistics this figure is made the basis for estimating total bene- 
ficiaries previous to 1892. 



48 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

The organization each summer maintains a down-town office 
within the general area from which its beneficiaries are drawn. 
Any adult may here apply for tickets to the train or boat excur- 
sions. Experience has taught the society that it is necessary to 
guard against giving tickets directly to children. Instances are cited 
where tickets thus obtained have been sold. An adult is at liberty 
to apply as often as' he likes during the season. There is no desire 
to restrict beneficiaries to a single excursion. Those who have 
gone by boat may next time go by train, and vice versa. When one 
remembers that the children of Hebrew parentage are by no means 
restricted to this charity which particularly singles them out, but 
that the hospitality of several other Fresh Air agencies in the city is 
at their command, one better appreciates the generous scale on 
which the philanthropy operates in their behalf. 

Tribune Fresh Air Fund. — The origin of this work has been 
briefly told. 1 It is impossible to refrain from reprinting a letter 
written at the time the movement was launched. Its enthusiasm is 
still contagious. 

"Sherman, Penn., June 3, 1877. 
My Dear Mrs. L— The hall is set in motion. I took for my text this 
morning, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, 
ye have done it unto me,' and made the practical bearing of my words 
the bringing out into our homes some of the waifs and outcasts of the 
city. One man stopped on his way home to say that he would take four. 
In another house there is a call for a mother and baby, and so on 
through the town. The enthusiasm and response of my people have de- 
lighted me. Next to get the money, then to tell the children. Must not 
two weeks in this pure mountain air be felt by them in after life? It 
seems to me that they are all but here! ... I shall try for a pass 
over the road to go back and forth with the children myself, and per- 
haps I can arrange with some of the good people on the way, to bring 
us a country lunch as the train comes along. Some good angel whisper 
it in the ear of a little one! Tell a tired mother there is life for her child 
in this country air! WILLARD PARSONS." 2 

The railroad gave the pass and half-fare rates for the children. 
Postal cards dropped en route described the experience of the first 
expedition. 

"Ridgewood.— No more trouble with lunch bundles. Lunches nearly 

J p. 18. 

58 "One Summer's Work." Eleanor I. Lovett. Sunday Afternoon" 
Vol. L, pp. 423-432. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 49 

used up. One eye treated for cinders. Train boy has asked if these are 
all my family!" 

"Turner's.— One towel and handkerchief needed. One girl sick. My 
youngest asleep. The E. boys eat all the time. More eyes treated with 
success at Monroe." 

Any one who has ever helped to get Fresh Air children to their 
destination in the country will appreciate this description. 

The policy here inaugurated of securing free entertainment in 
the country for children of the tenements has been adhered to, from 
that day to this. Other features, such as the day excursion and the 
colonization of children in Summer Homes have been added to the 
original plan. But unlike many country week societies, the Tri- 
bune never pays board to private families. 

In the past, the Tribune Fund has contributed to the support of 
Fresh Air work in no less than five directions: (i) Transportation 
expenses of those sent to private families by other societies or by 
individuals; (2) transportation expenses of those sent to Homes 
supported by other local societies — missions, college settlements 
and the like; (3) transportation expenses of its own beneficiaries 
sent to Homes under its own care; (4) transportation expenses of 
its own beneficiaries sent as guests to private families inviting chil- 
dren through the Tribune Fresh Air Fund; (5) operating expenses 
of Homes supported by the Fund. 

In former years, the number of those sent out under the first 
two provisions was by no means small, reaching in one year a 
total of a thousand children, exclusive of "Life's" beneficiaries. 1 But 
in 1895, subsidies of this sort were almost entirely withheld, owing 
to a decrease in the amount at the disposal of the Tribune for its own 
wards. The same year, the Fund had at its disposal twelve Fresh 
Air Homes to which it sent no fewer than 3,000 children. The 
Tribune Fund was called upon to pay the running expenses of but 
two of these Homes — the Ashford Hill Retreat, at Ardsley, N. Y., 
and Eunice Home, at Chapel Hill, N. J. These two Homes ac- 
commodated about as many as the other ten, or 1,574 children. 65 
per cent, of the Fund went for traveling expenses of children and 
attendants. Even were the proportion greater, it would be a mis- 
take to regard the Tribune Fresh Air Fund as solely a transporta- 
tion agency. Naturally those accustomed in other years to look to 
the Fund to provide tickets for their wards might so consider it. 
But its main business has not been to subsidize the work of other 
societies. 

1 See p. 55. 



50 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

Mr. Parsons has called attention to three factors in the work. 1 
These are, (i) money; (2) homes; (3) children. As for the first, we 
are told that two or three appeals in the course of the season to the 
Fund's constituency are usually sufficient to call out the contribu- 
tions needed. It is not so simple a matter to secure places of en- 
tertainment. General appeals are useless. Letters, circular or per- 
sonal, are not much better. It is necessary to visit the towns to 
which it is desired to send the children, to call upon the clergy and 
influential citizens of the place; to interest the editor of the local 
paper; perhaps to arrange for a public meeting; at any rate, to see 
that a responsible committee is appointed to canvass the locality. 
This preliminary work must largely be repeated each year. The 
task long since outgrew Mr. Parsons' ability to conduct in person 
the entire campaign. Reliance must now be had upon the assist- 
ance of others. 

In the selection of children, cooperation is assured. Application 
from workers among the poor, from missionaries, teachers, nurses, 
settlement residents and others are filed with the Fund. Mr. Par- 
sons has had the assistance of nearly 200 such workers in a single 
year. 

Statistics are at best but a poor medium for conveying an ade- 
quate idea of the amount of time and nervous energy contributed 
by those who gather up the children. When these have been found 
— not in! itself a difficult task — they are to be examined by a physi- 
cian to guard against the presence of two dreaded foes of the work : 
contagious disease and vermin. If the first has slain the hopes of 
thousands, the last has destroyed the chances of tens of thousands. 
In a single year, out of 15,000 children examined, about one-third 
passed muster. Doubtless the fact that the children are received 
as guests, makes insistence upon clean heads the more essential. It 
is this work of preparing the children for the country, that falls upon 
the workers among the poor. 

Then again, it is no easy matter to fit the right children into the 
right families. Questions of religious faith and of nationality have 
to be considered. Catholic children of Italian parentage and the 
children of orthodox Jews are by no means easily placed in private 
homes. Matters of cleanliness and of dietary laws enter in to com- 
plicate the situation. Families in the country, too, frequently ex- 
perience a kind of shock, induced by the very neatness and respect- 

1 "Story of the Fresh Air Fund," Willard Parsons. Scribner's Maga- 
zine, Vol. IX., No. 4, April, 1891. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 51 

ability of the children sent to them. Sensational newspaper ac- 
counts of cases of dire poverty in city slums, often become the basis 
for picturing how the Fresh Air child ought to look. 

That amid these and other difficulties, Mr. Parsons has con- 
tinued to emphasize the principle of free entertainment, speaks well 
for the practicability of the method when backed by personal en- 
thusiasm and effort. What widespread interest this form of Fresh 
Air work has awakened is a matter of record. Committees from 
Toronto, Montreal, St. Johns, London and Manchester have visited 
New York to study its methods. Germany, Italy and even Russia 
have sent for information, while "Dresden, Stuttgart, Vienna, and 
Berlin have each joined the movement." Meantime the influence 
of Mr. Parsons' work at home cannot be estimated. 

It can scarcely be thought ungracious, after that which has been 
said, to indicate what, from the statistician's point of view, must 
seem defects or at least limitations in the charity. The very method 
of providing for the executive expenses of the Fund, seems one of 
these limitations. 1 

In the desire not to use a penny of contributions for defraying 
expenses of registration, office room and the like, there is a proba- 
bility that the value of systematic records will be underestimated. 
Thus, for example, for lack of office space and a clerical 
force to do the work, no list of the names with addresses 
of beneficiaries is kept at headquarters. Reliance is placed 
upon the judgment and discretion of the individual worker. 
If the same child is invited by name to revisit its host 
the following year, the agencies which chanced to send chil- 
dren through the Tribune on the particular date on which a 
party of children were sent to the town in question, must be con- 
sulted for the purpose of finding the child wanted. The Fund con- 
cerns itself chiefly with the total number of children sent out on a 
given date by a particular society or individual. 

Is such economy in executive management a real virtue? How 
valuable, if only for purposes of comparison, an alphabetical regis- 
tration of beneficiaries with their addresses and the name of the 
agency recommending them, would have been. That some such 
record was not deemed impracticable is shown by the offer of the 
Charity Organization Society to keep such a list in the interest of 
discriminate relief-giving. Records of this kind on the part of the 
Tribune Fund would have shown, when compared, all duplications 

1 A few wealthy gentlemen meet all the expenses of management. 



52 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

among beneficiaries; how far the same children were sent year after 
year; how the work was distributed among various agencies and in 
particular sections of the city; and indirectly, the presence of favorit- 
ism or lack of discrimination on the part of the children's cham- 
pions. If other societies had also been led by the Tribune's example 
to keep systematic records, much overlapping and probable "over- 
looking" might have been saved. The interests of economy as well 
as of scientific charity, would have warranted expenditure to this 
end. In short, such registration would have enabled the Fund 
to reduce to a minimum the abuses likely to arise where charity is 
dealt out without systematic record of its beneficiaries. Even 
workers among the poor, in their enthusiasm for their own charges,, 
are not always impartial judges of where the greatest need is for the 
distribution of Fresh Air privileges. 

Mr. Parsons seems to have questioned whether his work might 
not be strengthened in some of these respects. He says: "Perhaps 
the time is near at hand when the work should be more systemati- 
cally developed. I am quite certain that a large number of skilled 
and paid helpers could be employed with most satisfactory results." 
This, however, was written five years ago and still awaits accom- 
plishment. As agencies multiply and Fresh Air work grows more 
complex the need of discrimination in the selection of its beneficiar- 
ies becomes the more imperative. 

In addition to its country week work, the Tribune Fresh Air 
Fund conducts day excursions for mothers and children. One 
gentleman meets the entire expense of these outings. 

All Souls' (P.E.) Church. —Two things stand out conspicuously 
in the Fresh Air relief work of this church. One of these is that, 
although the charity is supported largely from within the parish, 
it may fairly claim to belong to the non-sectarian societies. All 
Souls' Summer Home, at Sea Cliff, Long Island, receives children, 
irrespective of creed or nationality. Hebrews and Roman Catholics 
as well as Protestants are welcomed. The caretakers are from 
various denominations. Thus the work of All Souls' is almost 
unique in ecclesiastical Fresh Air annals. 1 Such a "losing of 

1 A second instance, somewhat similar, is the work of the Men's Guild 
of St. Luke's Church, Scranton. For an example of a different spirit, 
compare the following: "Our Fresh Air work is used as a kind of reward 
for attendance at our missions. Many Roman Catholics are in our sew- 
ing schools, where they learn verses of scripture. Some of these children 
are taken to the Home in hopes of teaching them 'the better way.' " 
(Interview with Fresh Air worker of a Church Home.) 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 53 

one's self" is refreshing to contemplate. The simplicity of the 
religious services at Sea Cliff makes it possible for the children of 
different faiths to participate. 

A second characteristic of the charity is its adoption, from the 
first, of the cottage system. The Home will accommodate ioo 
children. These are distributed in seven cottages, the largest, 
capable of receiving 20, the smaller ones, 14 or 15 children. The 
houses have small rooms, containing from one to four beds. In 
charge of each cottage is a housemother. The president of the 
Home, writes: "These caretakers volunteer their services, they 
are young women of refinement and education, and their influence 
over the children is very great. We try in every case to select those 
who need the outing quite as much as the children, but always those 
who are specially adapted to this work for Christ and His little 
ones." 

It is to be said that the close proximity of the cottages, and the 
fact that they are chiefly sleeping quarters — the children mingling 
at play and at meals — makes the family units somewhat more the- 
oretical than real. Then also, the houses are of two stories and cut 
up into small rooms. This makes it more difficult for the house- 
mothers to keep watch over their proteges, and also adds to the cost 
of repairs, cleaning and the like. At the same time, such cottages 
make possible nicer age and sex classification — no small advantage. 
Undoubtedly, too, they help to make more personal the work of 
each caretaker and to give a more homelike atmosphere to the 
philanthropy. The effort here made is to avoid the evils of coloniza- 
tion while reaping its advantages. 

All Souls' work is by no means a cheap charity. The records 
show that it costs to give a child a two weeks' outing, nearly 
ten dollars, notwithstanding the fact that the housemothers re- 
ceive only their living expenses, while the salaries paid to matron 
and superintendent are but nominal. Transportation is also inex- 
pensive. Probably the cottage system as here carried out is more or 
less responsible for the high per capita cost. Although the parish 
might do its work more cheaply than it does, one cannot say that any 
considerable retrenchment of expense would be either wise or 
possible under the circumstances. 

The ease of access to the Home from the city, has enabled par- 
ents to visit their offspring on Sundays. Experience proves that 
the custom is a bad one, demoralizing alike to parents and children. 
The latter are often made homesick by the sight of their own people, 



54 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

while not infrequently the visitors expect the Home authorities to 
provide dinners and even return tickets. The Sunday afternoon 
talks by the housemothers to, their little families — talks on such 
practical subjects as cleanliness, obedience and the like — are seri- 
ously interrupted by such visits and the educational influence of the 
Home to. this extent impaired. 

The experience on this point is not peculiar to All Souls'. Ex- 
cept in case of serious illness, parents and friends should not visit 
the children during the outing. 

The Bartholdi Creche. — Notwithstanding the many forms of 
Fresh Air relief, it was felt that there was need of another type of the 
charity to fill a want still left unmet. In 1886, the Bartholdi Creche 
was organized, "to meet the needs of poor mothers and children 
who cannot leave /heir homes to stay over night, or even a whole 
day, at any of the more distant fresh air, resorts, and to whom the 
opportunity of spending a few hours amid green fields and in pure 
air is an inestimable remedial boon. A mother can take her sick 
babe at a moment's notice, and reach at once bracing air and shady 
groves, when the delay necessary to gain a more distant point might 
be fatal." To this end, privileges of Bedloe's, Ward's and Randall's 
Island have been successively extended to the Creche by the proper 
authorities in each case. 

The statistics of what the Creche has accomplished in the last 
ten years, together with the fact that this Fresh Air agency, in the 
summer of 1896, finds its island privileges withdrawn, serve to em- 
phasize the need of easier access for the tenement-house population 
in summer to the salt-water breezes of New York harbor. With 
its splendid island facilities given over to public institutions, rare 
opportunities for Fresh Air relief are lost to Greater New York, 
and the necessity for charity, always a mixed blessing, involving 
moral peril both to him who gives and to him who receives, is there- 
by augmented. 1 

This latter danger, the managers of the Creche have attempted tu 
reduce to a minimum. Only children liable to disease are received 
with their caretakers. The beneficiaries, as a rule, pay their own car 
fares. Medical attendance is provided. The medical director testi- 
fies that the lives of many children have been saved by the timely 

1 The recent decision to build one or more Fresh Air resorts above 
the docks will afford not a little relief to the tenement district. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 55 

use of the hospitalities of the Creche. The average per capita cost 
of the work in 1895 was 10.6 cents. The ratio of mothers to infants 
and children under twelve is 1 to 2. 

Life's Fresh Air Fund, — One of the striking illustrations of 
the debt of Fresh Air charity to the press is the persistent and suc- 
cessful efforts of "Life." For almost a decade, this weekly has 
undertaken to secure the wherewithal to send poor children to the 
country for a fortnight's vacation. In number of days' outings pro- 
vided, it stands fourth in our list of the general Fresh Air societies 
of the city. 

For two years, the Fund maintained what it called "Life's Vil- 
lage," at Eatontown, N. J. The settlement consisted of cottages, 
each presided over by a housemother. In 1891, an estate of four- 
teen acres was leased at Branchville, in the town of Ridgefield, 
Conn. Here "Life's Farm" was established. About 1,150 children 
are entertained at Branchville in the season. Up to 1894, Life also 
boarded in the country hundreds of children whom it could not 
accommodate at its own Home. 

The management of the Fund is in the same hands as that of the 
Tribune. In fact Mr. Parsons provides free transportation for 
Life's beneficiaries, from the Tribune Fresh Air Fund. This is to 
be remembered when we come to consider the total number of bene- 
ficiaries of the general Fresh Air Charities and also the cost per 
capita to the different agencies. 

Hie New York Association for Improving the Condition of the 
Poor. — For several years previous to 1890, the N. Y. A. I. C. P. 
had done considerable Fresh Air work through other agencies, 
such as the Children's Aid Society and the Tribune Fund. In the 
annual report for 1888, the hope is expressed that the Association 
may at no distant day have a Summer Home of its own. Two years 
later, its "Ocean Parties" were inaugurated "to provide pure air, 
sea bathing and wholesome food for the laboring poor who are 
compelled to live in stuffy tenement houses and who cannot afford 
to pay for such recreation." Among the rules for the management 
of these excursions is the following: "No beneficiaries shall receive 
tickets for these parties until their circumstances shall have been 
first carefully and personally investigated by the visitors of the 
Association under the direction of the General Agent." 

The absolute necessity of such precaution is evident from the 



56 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

character of the outings. Use is made of the regular steamers ply- 
ing between the city and Coney Island. The parties are tri-weekly. 
The Association's wards are allowed the freedom of the boat and are 
scarcely to be distinguished from other excursionists. Arriving at 
Coney Island, after the long sail down the bay, the society's guests 
are marshalled for the short railway journey to the Home of the 
Association. Here a substantial meal welcomes the visitors upon 
their arrival. Bathing follows at a safe interval. The younger 
children find special delight in the sand. This part of the work is 
distinctly recreational. There is another side, however, which em- 
phasizes the recuperative purpose of the Association's Fresh Air 
relief. 

At its People's Seaside Home, beginning with 1892, provis- 
ion was made for the reception of cripples, convalescents or aged 
people, who were entertained for periods ranging from one to four 
weeks. In 1893, a building to be known as the "Free Home for 
Ailing and Crippled Children," was set apart for the use of children 
of country week age, say from six to twelve or fourteen years old. 
When accompanied by older brothers or sisters, children younger 
than six are sometimes received. An administration cottage sep- 
arates the children's quarters from the building now occupied by 
aged women, together with mothers and their babies. This provis- 
ion for the retention of its wards for days or weeks may be con- 
sidered the recuperative side of the work. 

The Association has gone one step farther. It is now engaged 
in an attempt to combine recreation and education. The society 
provides teachers for the children and mothers who are its guests 
for a fortnight. A kindergartner, an instructress in nature studies, 
and a cooking teacher organized classes this past summer. Girls, 
and mothers, too, have been taught not only how to prepare dishes 
but how to market. So far from detracting from the value or in- 
terest of the vacation, the teachers report that these features have 
given an added zest to the outing. 

This is hardly the place to call attention to another departure 
in the summer work of this society, as seen in its Vacation Schools, 
where in the densely crowded districts of the city, children of the 
tenements are taken off the streets for a few hours each day and 
taught many useful lessons by the methods of "organized play." 
Whatever one may think of the wisdom of offering as a charity 
"free recreation" to the poor, the giving of free education safe- 
guards its own distribution. The Vacation School is a happy com- 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 57 

bination of recreation and education at the door of the tene- 
ments. 

It should be said, finally, that while few Fresh Air societies are 
more liberal in their treatment of their wards, few have better facili- 
ties for seeking out worthy cases. Through its constant relations 
with "the other half" and by means of its corps of trained visitors, 
it is able to protect itself against much of the imposition that its 
liberality would otherwise invite. Alphabetical lists of its benefi- 
ciaries are kept as an additional safeguard. 

The George Junior Republic} — A small volume might be 
written about this one experiment in Fresh Air charity. The move- 
ment is unique in the history of Fresh Air endeavor. A few of the 
characteristic features of the Republic may be noted in the course 
of its evolution. So much has recently been written upon the sub- 
ject that the more conspicuous traits of the work are well known. 2 
Mr. George began by taking a few children from mission schools 
in the city, to Freeville, N. Y., where they were given two weeks 
of country life. The churches of the region were asked to con- 
tribute food and clothing for the support of the Camp. The dan- 
gers of promiscuous Fresh Air work soon appeared. Mr. George 
found that many of the children were sent to the country for the sake 
of the spoils. Impositions practiced upon him on two successive 
winters by families of his Fresh Air children convinced him of the 
danger of giving something for nothing. On the other hand, the 
difficulty of properly protecting the property of his neighbors from 
the raids of his wards, emphasized the need of vigorous discipline. 
In a single day* Mr. George had occasion to thrash 32 boys tor 
stealing apples. He declares it to have been the meanest day's 
work that he ever did. How to secure effective discipline, how to 
escape pauperizing his beneficiaries, these were the two problems 
which his experience had set him. The Junior Republic, as now 
organized, is the result of the attempt to solve both problems. 

For the first time in the conduct of either charitable or correct- 
ional work, so far as known, two principles, fundamental to our 

1 The description here given is based upon a personal visit to the 
Republic in the summer of 1896. and the interviews held with Mr. George 
at that time. 

2 Probably no Fresh Air enterprise ever received so much newspaper 
notoriety, some of which could not have been altogether agreeable to its 
founder and early patrons. Since this sentence was written, word 
comes that the trustees of the Republic have distinctly repudiated certain 
methods adopted by a metropolitan dailv to "benefit" the philanthropy. 



58 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

present social order were made the essential characteristics of the 
Republic. These two principles are self-government and self-help. 
Courts of justice and the machinery of popular elections were set 
up. Mr. George became, temporarily, president of the Republic 
with right of absolute veto. A Senate and House of Representa- 
tives legislated upon matters pertaining to the government of the 
colony. Offices in the civil sendee were filled from a list of candi- 
dates who had succeeded in passing satisfactory examinations. A 
police force acted as the executive arm of the government. Trial 
by jury extended to any citizen accused of crime a chance to be 
judged by his peers. Mr. George sought, in this way, to remove 
from the minds of his wards any sense of arbitrary authority on his 
part and at the same time to acquaint them with the forms of gov- 
ernment under which their lives were to be spent. 

A similar educational purpose is apparent in the adoption of the 
economic principle of self-help. To teach the boys and girls that 
they need never expect to receive something for nothing in the real 
work-a-day world, became one of the chief aims of the Republic. 
A system of currency was adopted. Workshops were established 
which, with the farm and domestic requirements of the colony, 
created abundant demand for labor. Everything received — food, 
clothing, shelter, must be paid for from the earnings of industry. 
If any would not work neither should he eat. An almshouse and a 
jail were provided for social dependents and delinquents. 

While the compelling impulse toward this work had been dis- 
tinctly religious, practical difficulties had led Mr. George to make 
his appeal to the entire range of motives that obtain in real life. 
The self-interest of the citizen, his ambition, pride and desire to get 
on, were given a normal place in the social scheme. The Republic's 
president recognized that in a democracy, church and state must be 
separate; that religion is an individual matter. Attendance upon 
Sunday school, prayer meetings and preaching services became 
voluntary. A group of Christians among the children were en- 
couraged to talk with their comrades and to secure their presence 
at these meetings so far as possible, but persuasion became the 
sole instrument employed in religious work. 

Three conditions upon which Mr. George lays stress differen- 
tiate this form of Fresh Air charity from that of other agencies. 
These are: (i) The age of the children received. Fresh Air phil- 
anthropy, ordinarily, makes no provision for older boys. The 
large boy is considered an element of danger to any well-ordered 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 59 

and decorous Fresh Air charity. The Republic receives both boys 
and girls between the ages of twelve and seventeen. 1 

(2) The character of the children. Fresh Air charities usually 
have, at least, a minimum standard of moral excellence for their 
beneficiaries. It would be nearer the truth to say that Mr. George 
has a standard of moral badness. Certainly the tougher the boy 
is, the better seems his chance of admission to the young common- 
wealth. The street idler, the leader of the "gang," the bully who is 
the terror of his neighborhood, the boy who is unmanageable at 
home, these are the types on whose reformation the Republic stakes 
its reputation. Nor does Mr. George hesitate about admitting 
girls to the privileges of the Camp. Girls are to be found in the 
homes of the boys ; the sexes mingle at their work or at play. Why 
should artificial conditions be created to save boys and girls from a 
contact as inevitable as nature's own laws? If one may judge from 
the appearance of the girls, as well as from the jail and almshouse 
records of the Camp, the girls are, on the whole, of a higher moral 
grade than the boys. Their influence would seem to make for law 
and order in the Republic. 

(3) Length of time for which the beneficiaries are received. Mr. 
George began his Fresh Air work by taking children to the coun- 
try for a fortnight each summer. As the educational side of the 
charity developed; he found two months the shortest possible time 
in which to impress the lessons of the vacation upon the minds and 
hearts of his wards. 

It will be clear from these considerations, that the work at Free- 
ville has a different scope from the Fresh Air charity of regulation 
type. The aim of the Republic is quite as much moral as physical 
restoration. Since moral degeneracy may be the cause as well as the 
effect of physical debility, New York is to be congratulated that 
two months of country life have been provided for the class from 
which dependents and delinquents are but too often recruited. 
Should this work develop ultimately, as it now promises to do, into 
a permanent training school for moral convalescents, and thus 
cease to be distinctively a summer charity, the George Junior Re- 
public will none the less redound to the credit of the Fresh Air 
movement. 



1 Unfortunately, this rule is not strictly adhered to. For a sympa- 
thetic account of the Republic, together with friendly criticism of some 
of its limitations, see article by Washington Gladden in "The Outlook," 
October 31, 1896. 



60 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

Little Mothers' Aid Association. — Infants in arms, young chil- 
dren, even the street tough have been provided for. What shall be 
said of the "little mother," the girl from seven to fourteen, whose 
lot compels her to care for younger brothers and sisters as if they 
were her own offspring? She cannot well be spared to go to the 
country with her more fortunate mates. The society named in her 
honor comes to her relief. Through the Little Mothers' Aid Asso- 
ciation, she may be taken out to one of the city's suburban parks, 
situated on Long Island Sound. There the authorities have loaned 
a house for use from June to October. Three lines of conveyance, 
at a considerable expense of both time and money must be taken to 
reach Pelham Bay Park. Once there, the combined elements of a 
country and seashore picnic are to be had. Both breakfast and din- 
ner are served to the little mothers. A doctor is in attendance 
who examines them before they take their dip in the Sound. The 
ones who need it most are invited to spend a few days at the holi- 
day house in the Park. 

The Association selects its wards through "chaperons" who are 
employed to visit the crowded tenement districts of the city in 
search of little mothers. The chaperons are expected to devote 
one day of each week to selecting their protegees, one day to the 
outing, and half a day in visiting cases of special need. Lessons 
in cooking, mending and general housework are provided for those 
who visit at the holiday house. 

Summer Shelter of Morristown. — This society is the out- 
growth of the "Wednesday Afternoon Sewing Class of Morris- 
town." Two articles of the constitution account for the place here 
given the Shelter among the general Fresh Air charities of New 
York City. According to this constitution (Art. II.), "the object of 
the 'Summer Shelter' is to receive, during summer months, poor 
children, from New York City, requiring country air." And, again 
(Art. XIL), " The Summer Shelter' shall be non-sectarian in all its 
work." In 1895, among the charities of New York City that availed 
themselves of the cooperation of the Shelter were the Charity Or- 
ganization Society, The Tenement House District of King's Daugh- 
ters, Sunnyside Nursery, Little Mothers' Aid Association and 
East Side House. Special cases were received from Brooklyn and 
Jersey City. Each member of the visiting committee, acting in 
turn, oversees the Home for one week and reports its condition to 
the president. Marked importance is attached to the position of 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 61 

matron, and the qualifications for the office "embody all that is 
highest and best in woman." 

Gilbert A. Robertson Home t — This philanthropy has one fea- 
ture which places it in a class by itself. The Gilbert A. Robertson 
Home treats the family as a unit. Few Fresh Air societies make any 
provision for working men. This one welcomes the man with his 
wife and children. Mr. Robertson's widow left property valued at 
more than $120,000, to found, in memory of her husband, a home 
for the worthy poor, where they could enjoy all the privileges of a 
hotel. 1 A visit to the Home at Scarsdale, N. Y., will convince one 
that the trustees of the fund have provided such a "hotel." The loca- 
tion is commanding. A mansion of twenty-two rooms, to which 
fifteen have since been added, and eighteen acres of ground 
afford ample provision for fifty or sixty guests. Separate apart- 
ments are assigned each family. The women take care of their own 
rooms. There are two adjoining dining-rooms, one for the parents, 
another for the children and mothers with infants. A playroom for 
the children and living rooms for the adults add to the comfort. 
The guests are at liberty to go and come at will, provided that they 
are promptly on hand at their meals and' at bedtime. The farm 
supplies the table with milk, eggs and fresh vegetables. It is not 
surprising that more than 500 families should apply at the city office 
for entertainment during the summer. 

An interesting question arises as to how far the Home is actu- 
ally reaching the heads of families. Excellent statistics are furnished 
us. An analysis of them from the beginning of the work in 1891, 
gives this table: 



Year. 


Families 
Represented. 


Number 
of Men. 


Percentage 
of Men. 


Percentage 
of Women. 


Percentage 
of Children. 


1891 




8 


5.8 


33.5 


60.5 


1892 


105 


22 


6.6 


31.4 


61.9 


1893 


146 


25 


5.4 


30.4 


64.1 


1894 


153 


38 


7.7 


29.9 


62.2 


1895 


140 


55 


11.3 


25.3 


63.3 



Of the 55 men reported for 1895, three or four were the older 
sons of widows and the chief support of the family. Generally, the 
term men signifies the father of the family. There would appear 
from these figures to be a steady increase in the percentage of men. 

1 Report of the G. A. R. Home, 1892. 



62 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

As the number of applications increases, it becomes easier to select 
families, where, other things being equal, the father is at liberty to 
enjoy the outing with his family. Another principle of selection is 
that the same family shall not be entertained for more than three 
seasons in succession. 

Lana ac Tela Society. — The same impulse that led a few chil- 
dren to dress dolls and send them to poor little girls in the hospital, 
led these same children, now grown to womanhood, to organize 
a society whose chief end should be to provide children and mothers 
with a country holiday. A characteristic of the work, as one might 
expect from the circumstances of its origin, is the amount of per- 
sonal attention which the charity has received from its projectors. 
Girls, women, and mothers with their babies are admitted to the 
privileges of the Home at Nyack. Great pains are taken to give a 
family atmosphere to the place. The dormitory system is eschewed. 
Four beds in a room is the largest number allowed. Many of the 
summer residents of Nyack throw open their private grounds for 
the enjoyment of the society's guests. The Nyack Steamboat 
Company also extends the freedom of its ferry to them. Many 
hours are frequently spent on the upper deck of the "Rockland" as 
she plies across the Hudson. River wading furnishes a safe substi- 
tute for bathing. 1 

Christian Herald Children s Home. — The most recent as well 
as one of the most enthusiastic of the general Fresh Air charities 
on our list is the Christian Herald Children's Home. Mr. Klopsch, 
the proprietor of the religious journal from which the Home is 
named, personally superintends the conduct of the philanthropy. 
He appeals for financial assistance to the readers of the Herald. 
Accommodations are had for 250 children. The field of selection 
is various missions in New York. While Roman Catholics and 
Hebrews are received, the usual method of invitation is such that 
Protestant children are the chief ones to apply. "The poorer they 
are the better we like it," says Mr. Klopsch. The work opens in 
June with children who are too ill to attend school. Much is made 
of religious and patriotic exercises. One caretaker or "missionary" 
is provided for every fifteen or twenty wards. 



1 The Home was rented for 1896 to another society for vacation pur- 
poses. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 63 

I.— GENERAL OR NON-SECTARIAN FRESH AIR 
SOCIETIES OF NEW YORK CITY. 

The description which has been given of the fourteen Fresh Air 
agencies here enumerated, will serve to justify their classification 
under the head of "General or Non-Sectarian." An exception might 
be taken in the case of the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children which is 
designed for those of Jewish faith. Since, however, neither national 
nor congregational lines are observed in the administration of the 
relief, but Russian and English, orthodox and liberal Jews are 
treated alike, it is sufficiently accurate to include the Sanitarium with 
the others. 

It is possible in the case of these general and local charities to 
present statistics covering the full term of their activities. The data 
relating to the individual societies may be summarized in compre- 
hensive totals. 

TABLE I.— GENERAL STATISTICS. 

No. Sent No. Sent for Average Total Total 

Society. Date. for more than Days Bene- Days' 

One Day. One Day. Stay, ficiaries. Outing9. 

1 St. J. G 1874 652,760 13,973 av. 8+ 666,733 766,152 

2 C. A. S 1874 67,792 84,910 6 152,702 577,252 

3 San. H. C 1877 170,869 2,172 8 e 173,041 188,245 

4 Tribune 1877 165,335' 141,284 2 14 306,619 2,143,311 3 

5 All Souls' 1882 ...... 6,600 14 a 6,600 92,400 

6 Earth. Cr 1886 48,757 48,757 48,757 

7 Life 1887 17,524 14 4 17,524 245,336 

8 A. I. C. P 1890 112,287 1,633 11 a 113,920 130,250 

9 Jr. Rep 1890 \ 1 ' 196 14 !■ 1,343 25,564 



147 60 

10 L. M. A 1890 7,478 275 3 7,753 8,303 

11 S. S. M 1890 950 14 950 13,300 

12 G. A. R. H 1891 1,901 12+ 1,901 22,832 

13 L. a. T. S 1892 1,000 a 14 1,000a 14,000 

14 C. H. C. H 1894 3,578 10 3,578 35,780 



Totals 1,225,278 277,143 11 1,502,421 4,311,482 

Total Duplications 19,560 19,560 273,840 



Revised Totals 1,225,278 257,583 1,482,861 1,037,642 



1 60,000 were from Brooklyn. 
2 12,000 were from Brooklyn. 

3 228,000 days' outings given to Brooklyn beneficiaries. 

4 For 1887-1889 the number of beneficiaries is given only approxi- 
mately. 

a Approximate. e Estimated. 



64 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

To economize space and time in printing the tables these abbre- 
viated forms of the societies' names are employed. The key is given 
once for all. 

1 St. J. G.— St. John's Guild. 9 Jr. Rep.— George Junior Repub- 

2 C. A. S— Children's Aid Society. lie. 

3 San. H. C— Sanitarium for He- 10 L, M. A.— Little Mothers' Aid 

brew Children. . Association. 

4 Tribune.— Tribune Fresh Air 11 S. S. M.— Summer Shelter of 

Fund. Morristown. 

5 All Souls'.— All Souls' P. E. 12 G . A. R. H.— Gilbert A. Robert- 

Church, son Home. 

6 Barth. Cr.— Bartholdi Creche. 13 1^ a. T. S— Lana ac Tela So- 

7 Life.— Life Fresh Air Fund. ciety. 

8 A. I. C. P.— Association for Im- 14 C. H. C. H.— Christian Herald 

proving the Condition of the Children's Home. 

Poor. 

An analysis of the data of Table I. discovers three striking 
examples of duplication of record, and one instance of 
triplication. The manifold character of Mr. Parsons' Tri- 
bune work has been pointed out. Where the Tribune has 
furnished transportation to the wards of the other Fresh 
Air societies enumerated, there is sure to be a duplica- 
tion of counting in the records, since each agency places such 
beneficiaries to its own credit in making up its totals. The Tribune 
always provides transportation for the children whom Life en- 
tertains in the country. Until 1895, the Tribune did the same thing 
for the wards of the George Junior Republic and the Lana ac Tela 
Society. Here are children counted twice in three cases. One in- 
stance of triplication comes about in this way. In its; account of 
its work for 1893, Life mentions that it sent 120 children to Free- 
ville. These beneficiaries were undoubtedly sent to Mr. George, 
who counted them in the census of his summer camp. The Tribune 
paid their fare and therefore also counted them. The 120 children 
have now trebled and the 360 children resulting are each credited 
with 14 days in the country.. The total of such duplications in 
Table I. amounts to 19,560 cases credited with 273,840 extra days' 
outings. Our first summary must be revised to that extent. Hav- 
ing eliminated, as far as discoverable, all instances of duplication, 
we are prepared to discuss intelligently the general results of non- 
sectarian Fresh Air philanthropy' in New York City. 

Of the total number of beneficiaries, 1,225,278, or 82.6 per cent, 
were day excursionists. 257,583, or 17 per cent., were given vaca- 
tions ranging from 3 days to 60 days. It is worth while to note 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 65 

that although the "country-weekers" were so small a proportion of 
the total beneficiaries, yet they received the larger share of days' out- 
ings. Of the 4,037,642 holidays given in all, 2,812,364 of them, or 
69 per cent, were enjoyed by the country-weekers, who, as we just 
saw, were but 17 per cent, of the whole number of beneficiaries. 
Their average vacation was 10.9 days. 

Of the 14 societies of Table I., 6 engage in both types of Fresh 
Air charity. The relative disproportion in the number of days' 
outings devoted by each society to one or the other form of relief, 
is sufficiently large to enable us to determine at once to which of the 
two classes, the agency in question the more properly belongs. 
For instance, with 652,760 out of 766,152 days' outings, given by 
its Floating Hospital, St. John's Guild clearly emphasizes the day 
excursion. On the other hand, the Tribune Fresh Air Fund, while 
actually reporting a larger number sent away for the day than for a 
fortnight, should be classified with country week societies. The 46 
per cent, of its wards who were country-weekers received 92 per 
cent, of all the holidays reported by the Fund. The 7 societies 
which engage in country week work only, are, for the most part, 
the smaller and younger of the organizations enumerated. 

One can hardly have failed to observe that the total days' out- 
ings are distributed very unevenly among these 14 societies. One 
agency is credited with quite half of all the holidays given. 50 per 
cent, of the societies furnished 95 per cent, of the days' outings. 

Of course, the same individual may be sent away by the same 
society year after year. In the case of the day excursions, the child 
and its caretaker may attend several times in a season. Therefore 
the 1,482,861 beneficiaries reported as the result of these years of 
Fresh Air work, are by no means so many distinct individuals. One 
case comes to mind where a woman, twenty-four years old, the 
mother of eight children, had been received annually, bringing not 
only her youngest born to the sanatorium, but the major part of 
her family. 

We may be sure that the total volume of Fresh Air work done 
by New York agencies since the New York Times gave its first ex- 
cursions in 1872, is not exaggerated in the summaries here given. 
For it is to be kept in mind that we are dealing now only with the 
general societies. In addition to their activity is that of the various 
churches and other parochial organizations doing an independent 
work. 18 such agencies report over 100,000 days' outings, as com- 
pared with less than 400,000 given the same year by the non-sec- 



66 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

tarian agencies. We are fully warranted in concluding that the 
totals presented in Table L, are distinctly conservative — especially 
if taken to represent the total volume of Fresh Air work of the 
city between 1874 and 1895 inclusive. 

What story do these figures tell? Graphically they show that 
within a quarter of a century a philanthropy has grown up which 
has transported a million and a half of people, chiefly women and 
children,, to the seashore or the country, and given to each one 
nearly three days' vacation. An equivalent of this would be the 
giving of a day's outing by private charity to nearly every man, 
woman and child in London, or to one out of every 15 persons in 
the United States at the last census. It is as if each inhabitant of the 
New York of 1890, had received 2.6 days' outings at the hands of 
some one of these 14 societies. 

Excursionists and Visitors. 
Coming now to the statistics of these fourteen General Societies 
for a single year, 1895, their beneficiaries may be distributed into 
the two classes shown in Table II. 



*** D HSr Visitor, ^ ToWDa,.- 



TABLE II.— EXCURSIONISTS AND VISITORS IN 1895. 

Average 
Days' 
Stay. 

1 St. J. G 56,063 1,643 8 1 69,411 

2 C. A. ,S 5,326 6,599 6 44,920 

3 San. H. C 13,392 803 8* 19,816 

4 Tribune 28,924 s 6,841 14 124,698 

5 All Souls' 50 7 

550 14 8,050 

6 Barth. Cr 11,767 11,767 

7 Life 1,180 14 16,520 

8 A. I. C. P 19,576 601 11 s 26,232 

9 Jr. Rep 147 60 8,820 

10 L. M. A 1,242 83 Se 1,491 

11 S. S. M 180 14 2,520 

12 G. A. R. H 485 12* 5,847 

13 L.a. T. S 280 14 3,920 

14 C. H. C. H 2,378 10 23,780 

Total 136,290 21,820 10.6 367,792 

1 Where the "average days' stay" of the "visitors" is given approx- 
imately, as in this case, and in that of the Sanitarium for Hebrew Chil- 
dren and of the Robertson Home, the exact total days' outings furnished 
the visitors is indicated below. Here the exact total is 13,348 days. 

2 Cf . notes, Table I. 

3 Exact total, 6,656 days. 

* Exact total, 5,847% days. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 67 

Of the 158,110 total beneficiaries, 136,290, or 86 per cent., were 
day excursionists; and 21,820, or 13.8 per cent., were "country- 
weekers," that is, visitors. The 86 per cent, of excursionists en- 
joyed but 37 per cent, of the total days' outings, while the nearly 14 
per cent, who were visitors, enjoyed 63 per cent, of the holidays. 
The average length of vacation for the beneficiaries as a whole was 
2\ days; and for the country-weekers alone, io| days. We may 
need to remind ourselves once more, that the 136,290 excursionists 
were not so many individuals. Probably each excursionist was in 
attendance, on the average, two or three times in a season. Since 
duplications are not noted in the records of any of the societies, 
the only basis for such a conjecture is, of course, the estimates of the 
officers of the various societies, as to what is true of their own 
work. 

The argument in favor of such duplication is apparent. Since 
the very raison d' etre of the excursions is to furnish fresh air to 
those who cannot go to the country or be sent away to stay over 
night, why should not such be given sufficient day trips to compen- 
sate for the deprivation? 40,000 to 50,000 would perhaps be a con- 
servative estimate of the number of separate individuals who made 
up the 136,290 attendances on excursions during the season. 

Adults and Children. 

There are two general age classes into which Fresh Air societies 
divide their beneficiaries. These are "adults'' and "children." Du- 
plication of records in 1895 was reduced to a minimum. The only 
one of our general societies assisted by the Tribune Fund that year 
was Life, whose wards are always furnished transportation by Mr. 
Parsons. Account of this fact is taken in the tabulation by sub- 
tracting Life's 1,180 beneficiaries from the Tribune's total. 

We have previously noted how generally the philanthropy has 
sustained its original character as a children's charity. Disregard- 
ing the Tribune excursions, whose beneficiaries are unclassified, 
the proportion of adults to children is 28.9 per cent. Three-fourths 
of the adults are reported by societies which receive the caretaker 
for the child's sake. The ratio of adults to children also throws 
light upon the conditions of admission to a society's privileges. 
The adults of St. John's Guild were 36 per cent, of the total bene- 
ficiaries, that is, there was one caretaker to less than two children. 
In the case of the Hebrew Sanitarium the adults were 27 per cent, 
of the whole, or one caretaker to almost three children. The differ- 



68 



FRESH AIR CHARITY 



ence is to be accounted for from the fact that the Guild centers its 
activity upon sick babies and young children, while the Sanitarium 
does not make illness a condition, nor is its age limit so low. The 
N. Y. A. I. C. P., in 1895, sent 31 per cent, of adults. Although the 
Association receives adults for their own sake, yet the child is the 
larger factor in its work. 

TABLE III.— ADULTS AND CHILDREN IN 1895. 



1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 
14 



Society. 

St. J. G. 
C. A. S. 
San. H. C. . 
Tribune . . . 
All Souls' . 
Barth. Cr. . 

Life. 

A. I. C. P. . 
Jr. Rep. . . . 
L. M. A. 
S. S. M. 
G. A. R. H. 

L. a. T. S. . 
C. H. C. H. 

Total.. . 



Adults. 


Children. 


20,795 


36,911 


2,129 


9,796 


3,938 


10,257 




6,841 1 




600 


3,888 


7,879 




1,180 


6,381 


13,796 




147 




1,325 




180 


55 (men] 307 


123 (women) 


61 


219 




2,378 



Mixed. 



28,924 2 



37,370 



91,816 



28,924 



Total. 

57,706 
11,925 
14,195 
35,765 

600 

11,767 

1,180 

20,177 

147 
1,325 

180 

485 

280 
2,378 

158,110 



If we suppose the Tribune excursionists to be composed of 
a somewhat similar proportion of adults and children, or one adult 
to two children, we have in round numbers 110,000 children who 
were given outings by these 14 general societies, in 1895. Sup- 
posing that some 15,000 of these came from Brooklyn and Jersey 
City, there remain 95,000 children as New York City's share. 

Ages of Child- Visitors. 

Although it is impossible to distribute the day excursionists by 
age classes, data are in hand for ascertaining, at least approximately, 
the age periods within which fell the 21,820 visitors. Each society 
has a minimum and maximum age limit for its child-beneficiaries. 
An occasional exception is made, to admit a child who cannot be left 



1 After deducting the 1,180 beneficiaries entertained by Life, 
of the Tribune's visitors were from Brooklyn. 

3 12,000 of the Tribune's excursionists were from Brooklyn. 



1,662 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 



at home or who stands in special need of the outing. The classifi- 
cation is sufficiently accurate for practical purposes. 



TABLE IV.— AGES OF CHILD-VISITORS IN 1895. 

6 to 12. 13 to 17. Mixed. 



Society. 1 

St. J. G 1 

C. A. S.:— 
Summer Home 
Health Home . . 1 

San. H. C 

Tribune 

All Souls' 

Barth. Cr 

Life 

A. I. C. P 



to 5. 

043 



776 

207 



Total 
Children. 



9 Jr. Rep. 
10 
11 



L. M. A 

S. S. M 



12 G. A. R. H. 



13 
14 



L. a. T. S. . . 
C. H. C. H. . 

Total 



3,779 

567 

6,841 

550 

1,180 



83 

160 



2,378 



50 

147 

20 



325 *> 



307 
219 



1,043 

3,779 
1,776 

774 

6,841 

600 

1,180 
325 
147 

83 
180 
307 
219 

2,378 



Adults 
600 



1,044 
29 



276* 



178 
61 



3,026 15,538 



217 



851 19,632 2,188 



It is to be noted that in some cases the age boundaries are some- 
what contracted in order to make the age groups intelligently com- 
prehensive. The Little Mother's Aid Association takes girls from 
7 to 14; the George Junior Republic, children from 12 to 17; and 
the Tribune sends a few beneficiaries older than 12, or younger than 
6. Instances of such overlapping will partially balance one another 
in the general summaries. The result of the latter is to show that 
90 per cent, of the visitors were children and but 10 per cent, adults. 
In other words, the adult is much less in evidence in country week 
work than on the day excursions. The latter are so often made up of 
young children that the services of the caretaker are in greater de- 
mand. The 15 per cent of children, between 1 and 5, were largely 
hospital cases. 79 per cent, of the children were from 6 to 12 years 
of age, or — to be conservative — three-fourths of them. 

Expenditures. 
What is the cost of their work to the General Fresh Air Socie- 
ties? As Table V. will show, the fourteen agencies there enumer- 
ated have spent more than $1,000,000 upon the charity, not in- 
cluding the cost of plant. Eight of the societies have sanatoriums 
or "Homes" of their own. The value of their property is as follows. 



70 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

The basis on which the estimates are made up is indicated in each 
case: 

PERMANENT EQUIPMENT OF NEW YORK'S GENERAL FRESH 

AIR SOCIETIES. 
St. John's Guild:— 

Floating Hospital (official estimate) $25,000.00 

Sea-Side Hospital (official estimate) 45,000.00 

Children's Aid Society:— 

Summer Home; construction account to date (1895). . 86,144.10* 

Health Home; construction account to date (1895) .... 52,285.98 
Sanitarium for Hebrew Children:— 

Sanitarium at Rockaway Park, L. I. (official estimate) 30,000.00 a 
All Souls' P. E. Church:— 

Home at Sea Cliff, L. I.; construction account 26,040.00 

Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor:— 

People's Ocean Home, West Coney Island (expert ap- 
praisement) 22,000.00 

George Junior Republic:— 

Farm at Freeville (official valuation) 4,000.00 

Summer Shelter of Morristown: — 

Home in Morristown (official valuation) 4,000.00 

Gilbert A. Robertson Home:— 

Land, Building, Live Stock, etc., (Treasurer's report, 

1895) 19,208.80 

Permanent Fund 101,387.94 

Total $415,066.82 

Property, representing a capital of more than $400,000, is owned 
by these eight societies. 

The data of Table V. have to do with the operating expenses 
of the charities. If we add to the latter, the value of the permanent 
equipment, the result will show that more than one and a half mil- 
lion dollars have gone into the Fresh Air enterprises of these four- 
teen societies. The expenditures in connection with the work of 
the New York Children's Aid Society, alone, amount to nearly 
$400,000. Mr. Parsons has disbursed $347,830.29 in sending bene- 
ficiaries to the country. No figures are published concerning the 
expenses of the day excursions managed by the Tribune. Doubt- 
less the total disbursements for both excursionists and visitors 
would not be far from $400,000. St. John's Guild is a good third in 
the matter of expense account. These three agencies easily repre- 
sent an expenditure of a million dollars in connection with the 
charity. The only enterprise which possesses any considerable 

1 Includes cost of property as originally presented to the society. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 71 

permanent fund or endowment is the Gilbert A. Robertson Home. 
Its annual income of about $5,000 is not sufficient, however, to sup- 
port the work on its present basis. 

TABLE V.-iEXPENDITURES OF GENERAL FRESH AIR 
SOCIETIES, 

(- • t Total Expenses Expenses Per Per 

society. (excluding construction.) in 1895. Capita. Diem. 

1 St. J. G $233,855.11 x 

Floating Hospital $16,520.56 $ .29 $ .29 

Sea-Side Hospital 7,552.09 4.59 .56 

2 C. A. S 254,053.60 

Summer Home . . 9,253.44 1.60 .37 

Health Home ... 7,920.65 1.28 .39 

3 San. H. C 65,745.17 2 9,338.82 .65 .47 

4 Tribune 347,830.29 19,840.53 2.47 .17 

5 All Souls' 51,773.00 5,566.00 9.27 .69 

6 Earth. Cr 6,810.94 1,183.59 .10 .10 

7 Life 48,137.86 s 3,935.79 3.33 .23 

8 A. I. C. P 55,291.28 10,385.92 .51 .39 

9 Jr. Rep 4,000.00s 2,508.23 17.06 .28 

10 L. M. A 10,919.89 1,822.00 1.37 1.22 

11 S. S. M 8,742.38 1,576.33 8.75 .62 

12 G. A. R. H 22,662.98 5,539.66 11.42 .94 

13 L. a. T. S 5,000.00s 1,572.72 5.61 .40 

14 C. H. C. H 15,043.07 8,819.60 3.70 .37 

Total $1,129,865.57 $113,335.93 $ .71az/$ .30 

Perhaps the best idea of the drafts made upon the philanthropy, 
is to be had from an analysis of the operating expenses for a single 
year. The expenditures for 1895, exhibit the "standard of living," 
so to speak, at present maintained by the societies. These expendi- 
tures furnish the most reliable basis obtainable for any attempt at 
a comparative study of the cost of Fresh Air charity in its various 
forms. 

Taking the data for 1895, an ^ dividing the expenses of a given 
society by the number of its beneficiaries, on the one hand, and by 
the total days' outings, on the other, we get respectively, the per 
capita and per diem cost of its work. These items will vary with the 
individuality of each enterprise. We need above all to know where 
a society places the emphasis, whether upon excursions or visits to 



1 From 1875. 

2 From 1880. 

8 Expenditures for first three years based on estimates of the number 
of beneficiaries for those years. 



72 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

the country. When an organization engages in both forms of the 
charity, we should be able to separate the expenses of the two. Un- 
fortunately, this is not often possible. One or two societies go so 
far as to present per capita averages based on a combination of the 
two types of the philanthropy. The result is an average much too 
high for the excursionists and too low for the weekly visitors. 
There are also other things that we need to know before we can in- 
telligently compare the averages given. These have already been 
touched upon. 1 Reference must be had to the description given 
concerning the character of each society's work, before the dis- 
crepancies between the averages in the several cases can be resolved. 
The per capita costs range, for example, from 10 cents to $17.06. 
One represents entertainment for a few hours of a single day ; the 
other maintenance for 60 days of 24 hours each. 

A comparison between the per capita expense and the corres- 
ponding cost per diem, will show in a crude way the relative 
amounts of the two types of work in a particular case. Thus where 
the two items are the same, as with the Bartholdi Creche, the con- 
clusion is evident — only excursionists are entertained. Where 
there is a wide difference between the two, the country week type 
as evidently prevails. The difference in per diem cost between the 
work of the Floating and Sea-Side Hospitals of St. John's Guild is 
to be accounted for, probably, by the difference in the length of the 
day in the two cases, and of the scale on which the two hospitals 
operate, rather than by any radical differences in methods employed. 
Again, the two Homes of the Children's Aid Society have almost 
the same per diem expense, but differ considerably in their per 
capita expenditure. Yet the length of the visitors' vacations is the 
same in both cases. How can we account for the discrepancy then? 
Have we here a reversal of the rule that curative work is more 
expensive than recreational? The per diem showing would not sup- 
port the conclusion. The explanation is simple. The larger num- 
ber of day excursionists received at the Health Home reduces the 
per capita average at that institution. The largest per diem cost is 
that entailed by the Little Mothers' Aid Association. The methods 
employed to find the children, as well as the expense of transporta- 
tion, account, in part, at least, for the high average. The generous 
character of the hospitality afforded by the Robertson Home ap- 
pears from the per diem expense, approaching $1.00 a day. The 



1 p. 24. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 73 

low average of the Tribune expense, per diem, reveals the part which 
free entertainment plays in reducing the cost to the Fund. Proba- 
bly the family-cottage system, as adopted by All Souls' parish, is 
somewhat responsible for the relatively large expense of 69 cents 
a day. 

The analysis might be continued in the case of the other so- 
cieties, but enough has been said to show the need of knowing 
the conditions under which each agency operates before trying 
to establish a hard and fast standard of comparison. The sum- 
marized averages of 71 cents per capita and 30 cents! per diem are 
given for what they are worth. By dividing the one by the other 
the average length of vacation given each beneficiary is confirmed 
as 2J days. 



II.— NEW YORK'S PAROCHIAL FRESH AIR AGENCIES. 

We have already touched upon certain limitations imposed on 
statistical inquiry relating to organizations which address them- 
selves to their own constituencies. To such societies, we have ap- 
plied theterm parochial, as fairly descriptive of their denominational 
or particularistic character. For the sake of clearness one matter 
needs further emphasis. 

It is with no desire to underestimate the value of the countless 
agencies cooperating in this work that only societies or churches 
which conduct Homes for their own constituents are here included. 
Some such line of demarkation is necessary in order to avoid all 
sorts of statistical duplications and reduplications. The work of the 
Charity Organization Society, in its relation to parochial as well as 
general Fresh Air agencies, illustrates the possibilities of statistical 
duplication in an inquiry like the present one. For 1895, the society 
reported 4,939 beneficiaries of Fresh Air relief. 4,371 of these were 
day excursionists, "paid for by churches and societies," who doubt- 
less recorded these same cases. 

The Fresh Air beneficiaries of the New York City Mission and 
Tract Society are also usually the guests of other summer charities. 
The statistics of the society for 1895 were: 

141 day excursionists, making total 141 days. 

789 visitors, averaging two weeks, making 

total 11,046 days. 

Total 11,187 days. 



74 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

This work cost the society $570.17, or about five cents 
a day for each person, an impossibly low figure had the society 
borne the major cost of the outing. We are not, however, to infer 
that the task of the cooperating Fresh Air agencies, such as the 
Charity Organization and City Mission societies is a light one. The 
gathering of a thousand wards means a deal of visitation in the 
homes of those who are to go to the country or seashore. The 
candidates for ,a two weeks' vacation must be cleaned up. Few 
statistics are available of the number who fail to pass the physi- 
cian's examination because of over-populated heads. 1 Often, too, 
the children are to be shod and suitably clothed. Such labor can- 
not be tabulated, although it is counted an essential part of the 
charity. 

The agencies to be enumerated according to the classification 
adopted, group themselves in the following way. One parish is 
omitted, out of deference to the instructions written across the face 
of the statistics : "Not for publication." 

Episcopal Churches 12 

Episcopal Sisterhoods 1 

Baptist Young People's Union (29 Baptist organizations 

cooperating) 1 

Baptist Churches 1 

Presbyterian Churches 1 

Ethical Society 1 

College Settlement 1 

Total 18 

The denomination first to take up the work, and the one which 
has since pursued it most vigorously, is that of the Episcopal church. 
In New York City, a Fresh Air Home seems now an essential equip- 
ment of a well-ordered Episcopal parish. Churches of the denom- 
ination, not having Homes of their own, cooperate with sister par- 
ishes. For instance, Grace-Emmanuel Church, in 1895, received 
one-quarter of its income for Fresh Air work from the board of 
children from other parishes. Nine churches and institutions were 
represented, the same year, among the guests of the Summer Home 
of the Church of the Incarnation. 

The Baptists furnish an illustration of successful cooperation in 
Fresh Air philanthropy. 

The work of the Methodist Episcopal churches in the city, is 

1 See p. 50. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 75 

thus described by an official organ of the denomination. "From 
nearly all our churches bands of 'Fresh Airs' have been sent out by 
the help of the Tribune, Christian Herald and private funds. Var- 
ious 'Camps' are in practical operation in which, as principals or 
partners, we have our share." 1 Methodist Sunday Schools and Boys' 
Clubs are represented in the citizenship of the Republic of Mr 
George, who is a member of the denomination. A "Mothers' 
Camp," at Westfield, N. J., and a Boys' Camp, in Connecticut, were 
among the Fresh Air enterprises of the M. E. church in 1895. 

A Roman Catholic writer points out the need of his denomina- 
tion to provide for its own children. "In many instances, far more 
numerous than we cared to acknowledge, we discovered Catholic 
children attending Sunday schools of other denominations, where 
the reward of regular attendance appeared to be a few weeks' outing 
in the country. Their parents, in many instances, dissipated. . . . 
The effect on the children may be easily understood. Their young, 
impressionable minds, finding everything agreeable and pleasant in 
those country outings, and remembering that everything at home 
was so different, were led quite naturally to consider their religion 
as something unattractive. The religion of those with whom they 
had spent happy weeks was, in their childish eyes, so much nicer 
than their own because it provided them with pleasanter surround- 
ings." A solution of the difficulty, along the lines of the Tribune's 
work, had been suggested by Mr. Charles D. Kellogg, of the Char- 
ity Organization Society. The result is thus described: "One of 
the members of the Superior Council (of the Society of St. Vincent 
de Paul) canvassed different sections of the State of New York. 
We were all delighted with the success of his mission. Everywhere 
he was received with open arms, and the result of his visit was that 
212 children were provided with homes, each for two weeks, in 
Catholic families. . . . The Tribune Fresh Air Fund paid 
the entire expense of their transportation. The Charity Organiza- 
tion Society examined the children ; selected those in a condition to 
go; despatched their agents along with them, and, in addition, 
brought them safely back to New York. . . . The work must 
necessarily grow to accomplish what we aim at. Our sole ambition 
is to preserve for the Church a new generation, thereby adding to 
her greater glory and advancement." 2 These 212 Catholic children 

1 The Christian City, August, 1895. 

2 "Outings for Poor Children,' 1 St. Vincent de Paul Quarterly, Vol. I., 
No. 2, February, 1896. 



76 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

are no doubt included in the Tribune report for 1895, as well as in 
that of the Charity Organization Society. 

Some of the eleemosynary institutions of the city transfer in the 
summer, certain or all of their inmates to country or seashore. No 
account is taken of these for reasons given elsewhere. 

Remarks on Tables VI. and VII. — It is scarcely necessary to 
analyze in detail the data of the following tables. They tell their 
own story of the activity of the religious and special agencies of the 
city in the exercise of Fresh Air philanthropy. A few things may be 
noted in passing. The adult is more in evidence in the work of the 
parochial societies, partly because he is dealt with on his own 
account. The same is true of the men. St. George's arranges ex- 
cursions for its Choir, Men's Club and Athletic Club. This church 
reports a large proportion of the total beneficiaries. Its work,, 
however, being chiefly of the first type does not maintain as large a 
proportion to the whole when estimated in days' outings. That its 
12,019 beneficiaries were not so many distinct individuals appears 
from its report. "There is no reason why the families should not 
have been to Rockaway at least three times and the boys and girls 
of the upper schools five times." 

In several instances, we have been obliged to have resort to 
estimates or partial estimates. In two cases this is made necessary 
by the classification adopted, whereby inmates transferred from per- 
manent urban institutions to Summer Homes are not counted. In 
two other instances the information is withheld. In the remaining 
case, the numbers in one or two of the parties are somewhat in- 
definite. 

The letter a indicates where the official returns are furnished 
approximately. This is usually regarding expenditures. Where 
estimates are offered, there is more or less official material upon 
which to base them, so that the results are probably approximately 
accurate. The additional beneficiaries, "not for publication" may 
serve as a reserve to make good any inflation in totals. 

Because a church has a Summer Home, it does not follow that 
all of its beneficiaries are entertained there. Grace parish — whose 
statistics, by the way, are models of completeness — sent its 7,683 
excursionists and visitors to twenty different places, but 201 going 
to Grace House. This fact leads to some slight duplication -of 
records. Grace Church contributed $300 to Mr. George's work in 
1895, which amount is included in its own expenditures, although 
none of its own wards are credited as guests of the Republic. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 



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78 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

TABLE VII.-^EXPENDITURES OF PAROCHIAL SOCIETIES, 1895. 

c rtri vtv Expenditures, Per Per 

b0clety * 1895. Capita. Diem. 

Baptist Y. P. Union $2,504.00 $2.33 $ .23 

Calvary P. E. Church 2,500.00s 1.25 a .38 a 

College Settlement 1,018.52 6.52 .64 

Ethical Society 2,600.89 12.56 .73 

Fifth Avenue Pres. Church 3,140.91 5.79 .57 

Grace P. E. Church 3,492.25 .45 .28 

Grace-Emmanuel P. E. Church 1,919.82 4.79/.* .34/.* 

Heavenly Rest P. E. Church .... 2,001.69 3.87 .53 

Holy Cross Mission (P. E.) 1,818.26/.* 3.71/.* .24/.* 

Incarnation P. E. Church 1,553.70/.* 3.45/.* .49/.* 

Judson Memorial (Bap. Church) 1,000.00a 1.69a ."SZa 

Sisterhood of the Good Shepherd 475.00/.* 3.27/.* .32/.* 

St. Agnes Chapel (P. E.) 435.67 3.75 .26 

St. Bartholomew's P. E. Church 2,820.20 1.26 .47 

St. George's P. E. Church 3,049.58 .17 exc'sts. .17 ' 

1.77 visitors. .35 

St. Mark's P. p. Church 1,500.00 a 7.50 a .92a 

St. Thomas' P. E. Church 2,218.04 5.64 .36 

Trinity P. E. Church 3,809.71 7.92 .56 

Total $37,858.24 

On the basis of Tables VI. and VII., we may sum up the work of 
these 18 parochial societies as follows: 29,687 beneficiaries, in- 
cluding 6,797 visitors, received 100,966 days of outing at an expen- 
diture of $37,858.24. 

III. — WORKING GIRLS' VACATION SOCIETIES. 

The Working Girls' Vacation Societies represent a distinct va- 
riety of Fresh Air charity. What differentiates them from the 
common type is the fact that the beneficiary contributes, as a rule, 
to the expense of the outing. These agencies are therefore, to that 
extent, philanthropic rather than charitable. Since, however, the 
payments of the beneficiaries are sufficient to meet but a minor part 
of the expense attendant on the enterprise, such Vacation Societies 
may properly be included in a study of Fresh Air Charity. 

The Working Girls' Vacation Society. — -This society sprang 
from a desire to provide summer outings for girls older than the 
maximum age limit allowed by the Tribune Fresh Air Fund. The 
success of the initial efforts of Miss Katherine Drummond — now 
Mrs. Herbert — the president of the society, to supplement the Tri- 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 79 

bune's work, led to the formation of a society distinctly for working 
girls. This was in 1884. The philanthropy has always been of a 
non-sectarian character. 

For the first few years, the society relied for entertainment upon 
carefully selected country boarding places. More recently, two or 
three Summer Homes have been presented to the organization. 
These accommodate a considerable number of the girls. It has 
been found necessary to restrict the benevolence of the society to 
such as are broken down in health. A physician's certificate is re- 
quired in every case. Two reasons are given for this. "In the first 
place, the society has become so well known among working girls 
that in a fortnight enough applications would be received to ex- 
haust all our money, were we to say that we would send away those 
in good health. Then we also feel that in helping such as are ill, 
worn out or convalescent, we are in no way pauperizing the girls." 
Besides providing places of entertainment for working girls, the 
society also furnishes transportation to such as have friends whom 
they might visit in the country. More than 10 per cent of its bene- 
ficiaries have come under this head. 

We take no account here of the distribution of Glen Island 
tickets furnished the society at a reduction to be sold to working 
women, nor of the aid rendered in supplying them with addresses 
of reliable and reasonable boarding places. Many of the benefi- 
ciaries are cash and stock girls from the department stores, their 
wages ranging from $2.50 to $3.00 a week. About a fourth of them 
are from Brooklyn and neighboring cities. The society has been 
aided in the raising of funds by the Christian Union, now called the 
Outlook, which collected $12,646.03 for the philanthropy from 
1891 to 1895, inclusive. In the decadence which at present seems to 
mark the once popular and profitable "Fair" as a source of revenue, 
this alliance with a well-known weekly journal is a fortunate one. 

The Jewish Working Girls' Vacation Society, — The society was 
incorporated in 1892. According to the constitution, "the objects 
of this society are to assist worthy Jewish working girls of small 
means to spend their summer vacation at a country home to be 
provided for them where the Jewish dietary laws and observances 
shall be kept, and where they may rest and recuperate." To this 
end, the society rents a Summer Home to which its beneficiaries are 
sent. The girls who are able, pay $300 a week for their board. 
As a rule all pay their own car fare. 



80 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

Those whom the society particularly wishes to help are "the girls 
who live in the crowded East-side and down-town districts, over- 
worked and under-fed, and who, though sick and suffering, cannot 
cease from the work which, too often, means the only support of an 
entire family." 

The Vacation ■ Farm Society. — The society began its work in 
1893 by leasing a Summer Home or "Vacation Farm." Its aims and 
methods are not dissimilar from those of the Working Girls' Vaca- 
tion Society. In fact, at its annual meeting in December, 1895, the 
Vacation Farm Society decided to work thereafter in cooperation 
with the senior organization. 

TABLE VIII.— WORKING GIRLS' VACATION SOCIETIES. 

Societv Date Bene " A Davl ? Total Da y s ' Total 

SoClety - Date - ficiaries. »£>* Outings. Expenditures. 

Working Girls' Vacation So- 
ciety 1S84 6,886 14 114,863 $81,528.32 

879 21 
Jewish Working Girls' Va- 
cation Society 1892 396 1 10* 3,960 3,289.89* 

The Vacation Farm Society . . 1893 227 a 14 3,178 3,386.71 

Total 8,388 122,001 $88,204.92 

STATISTICS FOR 1895. 

Bene Average Total 

ficiaries *? a - vs ' n Da y s ' Expenses. 

Stay. Outings. 

Working Girls' V. S 640 14 11,018 $11,209.00 

98 21 

Jewish Working Girls' V. S 80 14 1,505 1,692.06 

55 7 

Vacation Farm Society 79 14 1,106 971.18 

Total 952 13,629 $13,872.24 

RECEIVED FROM BENEFICIARIES. 

Total Amt. Percentage Receipts Percentage 

so Received, of Expense. in 1895. of Expense. 

Working Girls' V. S $15,823.84/.^ 19.4 >M 971.80 8.6 

Jewish Working Girls' V. S. 1,395.20 3 42.4 600.30 35.4 

Vacation Farm Society .... 994.58 29.3 330.00 33.9 

Total $18,213.62 $1,902.10 

Remarks on the Statistics. — The one feature which calls for 

x , Statistics for 1892 are wanting. 

* No financial statement at hand for years previous to 1894. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 81 

special notice is that which differentiates the working girls' vacation 
societies from the ordinary Fresh Air charity, namely: repay- 
ments by beneficiaries. What stress, as a matter of fact, is laid upon 
this principle in the practical operation of the philanthropy? So 
far as the smaller societies are concerned, the revenue from this 
source in 1895 was about a third of the expenditures. In the case 
of the largest and oldest of the working girls' societies the showing 
is not so favorable. Since 1884, the repayments have amounted to 
about 1-5 of the expenses. In 1895, they were less than 1-10. More- 
over, the following percentages show that the decline has been more 
or less constant for a series of years. 

1890 Percentage of Repayments to Expenditures 28.2 per cent. 

1893 Percentage of Repayments to Expenditures 17.4 per cent. 

1894 Percentage of Repayments to Expenditures 11.4 per cent. 

1895 Percentage of Repayments to Expenditures 8.6 per cent. 

The years given are the only ones in which the society has dis- 
tinguished between receipts from the sale of Glen Island tickets 
and repayments from beneficiaries sent to the country to board. 
It is with the latter only that we are concerned. Questions of some 
importance arise in this connection. Is the senior society among 
the vacation agencies for working girls on the road to becoming 
a purely charitable institution, thus losing the distinctive feature 
of "self-help?" What causes have operated to bring about such a 
decline in repayments? (1) Does the society now minister to a 
class of girls less able than former beneficiaries to bear a portion of 
the cost of the outing? (2) Or does the same class receive a smaller 
wage owing to hard times, for example, and less constancy of em- 
ployment? (3) Is there any change in the policy of the society 
itself? (4) Is any relation traceable between increased resources and 
greater generosity? 

Statistics can answer these queries but in part. The following 
analysis is offered for what it is worth : 

Year. New Features. /ercTpt. Sard! Kepavments. 

1884 Girls, if able, pay $1.25 a week $8.17 $7.96 $243.00 

1885 7.80 7.50 881.76 

1886 Presented with Green's Farms .... 7.93 7.35 1,692.42 

1887 Girls pay $1.50 a week 8.42 7.71 2,365.98 

1 Railroad tickets and traveling expenses of beneficiaries are not in- 
cluded. Of course, no account is taken of those sent to friends in the 
country. Their expense to the society is chiefly a matter of transporta- 
tion. 



82 FRESH AIR CHARITY 

Year. New Features. pSglpita. "fioard. Repayments. 

1888 Physician's certificate required .... 9.28 8.32 1,551.87 

1889 10.02 8.84 1,574.78 

1890 .... 1 8.31 1,689.58 2 

1891 "Christian Union" cooperates 9.83 8.76 2,288.70 

1892 Opening of "Cherry Vale" 11.74 9.39 2,138.37 

1893 . 12.49 9.20 1,528.61 2 

1894 House at Craigville opened and 

furnished 12.68 8.12 1,184.87 2 

1895 Opening of Santa Clara cottage . . . 14.72 7.50 971.80 2 
Opening of Elmcote cottage 3 

Certain things are noticeable from this analysis. One 
of these is that the cost of board has remained practically sta- 
tionary, being the same in 1895 as in 1885. On the other hand, the 
expense per capita shows increase, particularly at two stages of the 
enterprise. The moment the philanthropy decided to confine its 
attention to the girl broken in health, the cost per capita increased. 
Hospital treatment, as we have seen before, means enhanced ex- 
pense. The repayments, so far as! we can judge from the financial 
statement of the society, do not seem at once to have decreased on 
this account. The second period marked by a decided increase of 
expenditure, came with the definite change of policy made possible 
by an increase in resources. The report for 1892, says: "We have 
too often found that, in spite of all contracts, the food has been poor 
or insufficient, while the farmer's wife had so many duties in the 
kitchen that she had no time to give to the girls themselves. For 
this reason we are happy over the offer of a gift of a piece of property 
less than two hours from New York. 

"Our idea is to make this the nucleus of a little settle- 
ment, or park. After a while we hope that others may feel 
disposed to give us cottages, in which case we can en- 
large the main house (which the society was to build) to 
meet the requirements." While this plan has not been carried 

1 The data required for a per capita estimate in 1890, are not separable 
from railroad tickets and other items. 

2 Repayments given for these years are exclusively from "Visitors." 
For the other years receipts for sale of Glen Island tickets are included. 
The latter may he roughly estimated as a third of the total amount. 

3 "Elmcote" took the place of the cottage at Craigville. About $1,400 
were spent in furnishing the two houses, which largely accounts for the 
increase per capita over 1894. 

The Outlook makes it one of the conditions of its cooperation with 
the Working Girls' Vacation Society that the matrons shall be hired by 
the year. "The Outlook's Vacation Fund," The Outlook, Vol. 54, No. 24, 
December 12, 1896, p. 1,077. 



IN NEW YORK CITY. 83 

out, as yet, the society has more and more made the "Summer 
Home," rather than the farmer's family the place of entertainment. 
This change of policy is marked by a decided increase of incidental 
expenses, using the term to cover everything but the item of board. 
In the meantime, not only have repayments diminished relatively 
but they have increased absolutely. The report for 1895 states that 
"Each girl is required to pay the nominal sum of $1.50 per week, 
excepting in cases where the person recommending the applicant 
assures us that she is not able to do so." How often the latter must 
have been the case appears from the fact that, judging from the total 
repayments, not more than one-half paid this nominal board. The 
conclusion, to which we are led, would seem to be that all four of 
the causes above cited (p. 81) have a share in bringing about the de- 
cline of repayments. Causes (3) and (4) are probably the most 
potent. 

GENERAL SUMMARY OF FRESH AIR WORK IN NEW YORK 

CITY. 

Number of General Fresh Air Societies reported 14 

Number of Parochial Fresh Air Societies reported .... 18 
Number of Working Girls' Vacation Societies reported 3 



Total 35 

The 14 General Societies report their total Fresh Air work as: 

Day excursionists 1,225,278 

Visitors (average 10.9 days) 257.583 

Days' outings 4,037,642 

Value of property $415,066.82 

Expenditures (exclusive of construction) .. ..$1,129,865.57 

(STATISTICS FOR 1895. 

Working 
General Parochial Girls' T Hl 

Societies. • Societies. Vacation lorai - 

Societies. 

Adults 37,370 8.623 952 46,945 

Children 91.816 16,837 . . . 108,653 

Mixed 28,924 4,227 . . . 33,151 



Total 158,110 29,687 952 188,749 

Excursionists 136,290 22,890 . . . 159,180 

Visitors 21,82c 1 6,797* 952 3 29,569* 

Days' Outings 367,792 100,966 13,629 482,387 

Expenditures $113,335.93 $37,858.24 $13,872.24 $165,066.41 

1 Average visit, 10.6 days. 

2 Average visit, 11.4 days. 

3 Average visit, 14.3 days. 

4 General average, 10.9 days. 



CHAPTER IV. 

DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 

In addition to the request for statistical data, the present inquiry 
invited certain general information, and also suggestions touching 
possible improvements in the practical operation of Fresh Air 
charity. The points covered by the circular letter were : 

1. The various forms of entertainment employed by the philan- 
thropy. 

2. Methods of selecting beneficiaries. 

3. To what extent, if any, beneficiaries contributed to the cost of 
the outing. 

4. What means were taken to prevent duplication. 

5. What evidence there was of a tendency on the part of the bene- 
ficiaries to look to the Fresh Air agencies for assistance in other direc- 
tions. 

6. How far the charity was proving itself an educational force. 

7. Personal recommendations and suggestions for the perfecting of 
the work. 

8. Actual results of Fresh Air endeavor. 

It is now in order to discuss these topics in the light of our 
statistics and of the official replies to the general inquiries to learn 
what conclusions may be drawn from the experience of the societies 
themselves. In this way we may hope to arrive at some theories of 
Fresh Air work which shall be at once inductions based upon the 
actual operation of the charity, and conclusions derived from the ap- 
plication of scientific principles of relief work in general. 

The Various Forms of Fresh Air Relief. 
The topic covers questions 7 and 9 of the letter of inquiry. The 
subject, being so closely related to the statistical part of the present 
study, has been treated already from that standpoint. We have 
seen that Fresh Air agencies are of two kinds, the excursion type 
and the vacation or country week type. While the beneficiaries of 
the excursion societies are largely in the majority, the total days' 
outings are not always in their favor. It remains to sum up certain 
relative advantages and limitations of the respective types. 

Day Excursions. — The day excursions possess certain qualities 
which are sufficiently advantageous to account for their wide-spread 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 85 

popularity. In the first place, they accommodate those who cannot 
remain from home overnight. For mothers who cannot be spared 
from their families, and infants and young children who may not 
be separated from their mothers, this is the only form of summer 
outing available. 

Again, such outings allow a certain amount of flexibility. Those 
in special need of recuperation can be taken on a series of excur- 
sions. While care is necessary to guard against the presence of in- 
fectious diseases, more laxity is permissible in the matter of dress 
and cleanliness of person than is the case with the candidates for 
country week. The bath is frequently an important function of the 
day's outing. Thus, the very poor, without regard to nationality 
or creed, are eligible to such excursions. A third advantage of 
great weight undoubtedly in the minds of the projectors is the small 
pro rata cost of the outing. Called upon, as a rule, to furnish neither 
breakfast, supper, nor lodging, the day trips are comparatively in- 
expensive. Frequently excursionists provide their own luncheons. 
Attendants are relatively few. The operation of the charity by 
"wholesale" reduces expenses to a minimum. House to house visi- 
tation in selecting the beneficiaries may render the day excursion 
the most expensive form of Fresh Air relief. The per capita expen- 
ditures of 7.2 cents and $1.22 respectively represent the two ex- 
tremes of cost, as well as of method. 

Experienced Fresh Air workers have testified in the course of 
the inquiry, to the advantage which day excursions have, in that 
the family may be treated as a unit. At least the mother and her 
younger children are eligible to the privileges of such outings. 

On the other hand, two limitations in the excursion type of 
Fresh Air relief stand out prominently. Both have found ample il- 
lustration in certain very recent exhibitions of the day excursion in 
New York City, where false sentimentality backed by inordinate 
ambition for newspaper circulation seems to have been the 
prevailing motive. 1 The first of these limitations is the 

1 One of the worst features connected with the excursions in ques- 
tion, in the summer of 1896, was the means employed to secure con- 
tributions for the charity. The streets were patrolled by young girls 
who solicited money in the name of the "Fund." The effect upon the 
children was such that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Children felt constrained to interfere in order to protect these girls from 
being trained in the ways of pauperism and immorality. (See article en- 
titled "Babies' Fund Beggars," The Evening Post, New York, Tuesday, 
July 28, 1896.) The writer had occasion to watch the effect of this sort 
of alms-seeking in the case of two girls about twelve and fourteen years 
of age, who accosted him on successive days, soon abandoning the pre- 



86 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

liability that these outings will assume the character of 
free-for-all picnics. This danger is reduced in proportion as 
physical ailment as well as poverty is made the condition of 
relief. Wherever tickets may be had for the asking the danger 
is imminent. A second drawback is the loss of individuality. Fre- 
quently the size and promiscuous gathering of the parties render 
this result inevitable. Routine and a certain military precision are 
essential to order. One cannot see the individual for the crowd. 
This need not necessarily detract from the physical benefits of the 
outing, though it must needs promise less satisfactory moral re- 
turns. Doubtless the majority of the beneficiaries are so accus- 
tomed to live and move with the multitude, that they themselves 
do not so much object to this feature. Some societies, particularly 
parochial ones, meet the difficulty by restricting the membership of 
the party to certain related groups or by furnishing families with 
tickets to neighboring picnic resorts. 

Country Week. — In contrasting the two types of Fresh Air 
charity, the advantages of the one form of relief are, in a sense, the 
limitations of the other. It is the longer vacation, for example, that 
affords opportunity for intellectual and moral betterment, as well 
as physical improvement. The quiet influence of family life and the 
personal relation of the child to its caretaker have time to make 
themselves felt. Either directly or incidentally, a certain amount of 
instruction in the art of living is practicable. We found that where 
an approximate age classification was possible, as in the case of 
the general societies of New York City, 70 per cent, of the country 
week visitors, in 1895, were children between the ages of 6 and 12. 
This is the period at which the child may be separated temporarily 
from its parents, often to the advantage of both. It is the impres- 
sionable age, when the child is keenly alive to the stimuli of a new 
environment. In the country week type of the charity, greater dis- 
crimination is the rule in the selection of beneficiaries. The fact that 
so much more is to be given, in this case, makes it the more neces- 
sary to guard the privilege from abuse. Where a society engages 
in both forms of the philanthropy, the neediest are the ones who 

tense of offering in return various trinkets exposed for sale. When a 
passer-by ventured to challenge their authority, the ready response was: 
"Why, didn't you see my picture in the paper?" 

With the introduction of electric street railways and the reduction of 
fares to seaside and country resorts, the necessity of furnishing free 
transportation is correspondingly curtailed. From New York City one 
may now go to Coney Island and return for fifteen cents, or from Brook- 
lyn for ten cents. 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 87 

come in for the enjoyment of a visit to the sanatorium or the Home. 1 
Thus the cumulative benefits of the longer vacation are shared by 
those who will profit most by them. 

After all has been said as to their relative merits, one must con- 
clude that the day excursion is to country week, what the occasional 
day's outing of the business man or tired housewife is to the ordin- 
ary fortnight's vacation in the summer. Each has its own place. 
Where the second is not possible, the first is all the more essential. 
But for permanent benefit, nothing can take the place of a complete 
change of scene for a succession of days. 

The Family, and the Summer Home or Colony. — Where shall 
those who go as visitors be sent? As a matter of fact we have seen 
that the family is less in evidence than the Home. Moreover, 
where the visitor is inducted into the former, he goes more fre- 
quently as a boarder than as a guest. The emergencies of the case 
would seem to be sufficient to account for this fact. Nothing can 
be so economical for the societies as voluntary entertainment. Yet 
the difficulty of securing free hospitality, year after year, for an in- 
creasing number of wards is so considerable that most of the larger 
Fresh Air agencies have come to depend either upon boarding 
places or Summer Homes. An expert in relief work offers a valid 
objection to bringing the invited guest and the boarder to the same 
locality. Where the two systems are brought into competition, the 
springs of private hospitality are dried up. Charitably disposed 
country folk will hardly be willing to sacrifice their own comfort 
and convenience by receiving children of the tenements as their 
guests, while their neighbors, equally well-to-do, find the Fresh Air 
boarder a source of income. The effect of such a competition calls 
for the practice of mutual comity on the part of societies whose 
methods of hospitality thus conflict. 

The payment of board offers this much of advantage, that a cer- 
tain selection and supervision are possible which must seem im- 
pertinences in the case of free entertainment. The testimony of 
country week societies which board their beneficiaries in farm 
houses is the same as that of agencies which "place out" dependent 
children, namely, that "accommodation can be found for many more 
children than the number sent." 

1 Such, at least, is the theory. It is to be feared, however, that the 
right which certain patrons of charitable societies claim, to name the 
beneficiaries of the funds contributed by them, makes the exception not 
uncommon. It takes real heroism for a charitable society to refuse the 
"requests" of wealthy supporters. 



88 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

The real question, however, is not so much between forms of 
family entertainment as it is between the family and the summer 
colony. The statistics of the general societies, not including vaca- 
tion societies for working girls, show 13 instances where Fresh Air 
agencies rely upon the family and 35 societies which send bene- 
ficiaries to Summer Homes. At the conference of Fresh Air work- 
ers in 1888, this resolution was adopted as the sense of the meeting: 
"That the placing of children in individual homes, either as boarders 
or invited 1 guests, is the policy best adapted for the formation of 
habits of thrift and self-respect, and of ambitions for physical, men- 
tal, and spiritual improvement, because it brings the children into 
such close contact with the refining influences of virtuous homes." 
"Why does not the Country Week establish houses of its own with 
matrons in charge?" — is the question frequently put to the Boston 
society. After twenty-one years of experience, the answer is : "Be- 
cause we have learned from experience and observation that the 
present methods are more economical and better adapted to the 
welfare of our beneficiaries. We want homes for them, not insti- 
tutions. " 

This is directly in line with the teachings of scientific 
charity with regard to the care of dependent children. 1 It is inter- 
esting to note that New York City, which is so wedded to the public 
institution in the care of its dependent and delinquent children, most 
fully illustrates at the same time the idea of colonization in Fresh 
Air relief. Do the evils of the one system inhere in the other? Or 
how far may we argue from the one to the other? An analysis of 
the actual situation will probably be enough to show that we may 
not justly impute to the average Fresh Air Home the evils of 
eleemosynary institutionalism. 

Two facts are sufficient to differentiate the summer colonist from 
the ward of the public institution. In the first place, the children, as 
a rule, come from families that are respectable, although poor. The 
beneficiaries have the training that comes from such homes. Then 
again, two weeks is scarcely long enough to "institutionalize" any- 
body. 

As to the relative merits of entertainment in the private family 
and the Summer Home, we have. the testimony of two Fresh Air 

1 See New York State Charities Aid Association's pamphlet, No. 
59, "Proceedings of a Conference on the Care of Dependent and Delin- 
quent Children." Also pamphlet No. 63. See too "Massachusetts' Care 
of Dependent and Delinquent Children," published by Massachusetts 
Board of Managers, World's Fair, 1893. 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 89 

workers in a large colony. Their own families had previously been 
in the habit of receiving Fresh Air children into their homes. Both 
strongly favored the plan of colonization. They were sure that more 
could be done for the visitors and that they had a better time in the 
larger Home. 1 

One can readily understand that the city child whose playground 
is the street, has few resources for its own entertainment when taken 
to the country. In the one case, everything depends upon the 
disposition and leisure of the hosts. On the other hand, where a 
colony provides itself with a sufficient number of caretakers, par- 
ticularly if they are trained kindergartners used to children and their 
needs, one may believe that it is quite possible to individualize the 
beneficiaries effectually. Where, in addition, the cottage system is 
employed to break up the colony into family groups, the advantages 
of both methods may be secured. The serious objection to the latter 
system is the additional expense involved. 

Undoubtedly the maintenance of small homes, either widely sep- 
arated or grouped in a single settlement, entails increased incidental 
charges. Yet there is reason to believe that the economical possi- 
bilities of the cottage system have not been exploited. To this end 
the houses should be simple yet convenient and homelike in their 
appointments; the food nutritious and abundant; everything scru- 
pulously neat; and bathing facilities ample. On the other hand, all 
luxuries should be eschewed. For it may well be questioned 
whether we do a kindness even to the "daughters of the tenement" 
when we introduce them to standards of living which can only serve 
to emphasize with exquisite cruelty the barrenness of many of their 
own homes. 2 Furthermore, any approach to luxury which should 
tempt a society to select Fresh Air candidates who will fit its Home 
rather than to suit the Home to the candidate, is to be regretted. 
Wherever it appears that entertainment in Summer Homes entails 

1 Compare these arguments for the summer colony: Children are 
more difficult to manage in private families; the teacher is a better moral 
authority than the family; the food is worse where the child is boarded 
out. In the settlement, the children have a livelier, happier time; and 
teachers and scholars in their friendly intercourse become better 
acquainted. Such are the arguments of Pastor Bion, the founder of the 
"Ferienkolonien," or Vacation Colonies, of Switzerland. See the Charity 
Organization Review, Vol. IV., p. 346. 

2 The remark of a warm friend of the working girl comes to mind in 
this connection. "There is altogether too much coddhng of the working 
girl," said she, as we were talking of Fresh Air work. How generally 
this is true only those may judge, who, like the speaker, are devoting 
their lives to their sisters' cause. 



90 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

an expense nearly double that involved by sending to carefully 
selected boarding places in the country, this fact alone constitutes- 
an argument against the former plan. With the a priori conclusion, 
based upon the methods of relief work in general, decidedly in 
favor of the boarding out system, with the practical results obtained 
by country week societies demonstrating its value, the burden of 
proof rests upon the advocate of the Home. Certainly it may 
fairly be doubted whether the advantage of the latter warrants any 
considerable increase of per capita cost, particularly in view of the 
fact that, other things being equal, as expenses increase the number 
of beneficiaries must decrease. 

While the effort is making to avoid extravagance and luxury r 
the institutional spirit needs shunning as well. The latter tendency 
is easily fostered wherever societies erect great Fresh Air establish- 
ments accommodating hundreds of children. The large colony 
is to be kept full even if the demand for Fresh Air has to be created. 1 
"We cannot do justice to any more," was the sentiment expressed to 
the writer by an expert superintendent of a Fresh Air Home caring^ 
for more than four hundred city wards. Surely the danger line of 
institutionalism has been reached when a single management must 
be responsible for so many beneficiaries. 

No special mention has been made of the parochial Home 
where the selection of visitors is from a distinct constituency. Here 
is a chance for the element of personality to enter to a degree that is 
scarcely possible where the relationship established is but for a few 
days or weeks. 

Methods Used to Select Beneficiaries. 

The degree of relationship between a society and its wards 
is indicated in some measure by the way in which the latter are 
selected. In reply to the question : "How are the children selected ; 

1 Are there other supporters of the charity in New York City whose 
experience tallies with that of a worker who had been sending" children 
to the country for twenty years ? Opportunities had multiplied, till now, 
she said, "It is hard to get children enough." This had led to unseemly 
competition among those who gather up the children. 

The warrant for the multiplication of Fresh Air societies has been 
the contrary assumption that there is a dearth of opportunities for sum- 
mer outings among poor children. Much of the strength of the argument 
against sending the same children to the country more than once in a 
season, is in the assumption that there is a "waiting list" of worthy can- 
didates. If the latter is not the case, a halt should be called to the in- 
crease of general Fresh Air societies, and the enlargement of the present 
Fresh Air plants. 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 91 

by your own visitor; through other societies; or otherwise?" the 
answers group themselves as follows : 

13 Societies outside of New York City, select their beneficiaries by 
means of their own visitors, or in an equivalent manner. 
6 Agencies select their wards through other societies. 
11 Societies employ sometimes one method and sometimes the other. 

The methods in vogue among the general societies of New York 
City are described elsewhere. The parochial associations, working 
with their own clientage, naturally employ the more personal and 
direct method of selection. In short, this matter depends almost 
entirely upon the nature of each particular Fresh Air society. 

Contributions of Beneficiaries. 

20 Fresh Air societies, not including those of New York 
City, receive nothing from beneficiaries. g such societies re- 
ceive "something" "sometimes," ranging from "luncheons" to pos- 
sibly one-third the costj of the outing. Not more than two of the 
associations appear to have a settled policy to develop self-help by 
means of money payments. One out of ten of the beneficiaries of 
the Working Girls' Vacation Society of Brooklyn pays something, 
while the City Missionary Society of New Haven reports that bene- 
ficiaries are "allowed and expected to do so if able." 

Of the general societies of New York City, the beneficiaries of 
the Bartholdi Creche pay their own car fare. In 1895, some of the 
visitors to the George Junior Republic did the same. The adults 
received by the Lana ac Tela Society either pay for themselves or 
are paid for by their own friends. The treasurer's report for 1895, 
shows that 20 per cent, of total expenses was returned in money 
for board. There is nothing to show what part of this was directly 
contributed by adult visitors. The president estimates "roughly" 
that one-half the women pay for themselves. This is the only one of 
the 14 general societies reported that received any repayments for 
entertainment in 1895. 

8 of the 18 parochial societies encourage beneficiaries to share 
the expense, at least of fares. In two instances, the amounts con- 
tributed did not exceed 3 or 4 per cent, of the total cost, while in two 
other cases they rose to 17 and 20 per cent, respectively. The Col- 
lege Settlement Society has a sliding scale of charges for its visitors. 
They pay in the aggregate about 1-5 of the expenses. "Older ones 
pay $3.00; middle-sized ones, $1.50; children, $1.00." 



92 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

With the working girls' vacation societies, we have seen that 
repayments are the rule, to which there are many exceptions. 

From this survey of the field one is warranted in concluding that 
repayments for children are rare and usually insignificant. 

The Fresh Air Conference of 1888, so often referred to, resolved: 
'That partial payments, whenever possible, by the parents, in the 
cases of children boarded or colonized, in the form of either stated 
sums per week or of car fares, is wise, and to be recommended by 
this Conference as inculcating independence and thrift, and dis- 
couraging the neglect of parental duties." 

An English authority on Fresh Air work, commenting on the 
discussions of the Conference, thus contrasts the English and Amer- 
ican methods in this matter: "The greatest difference between the 
two methods is to be found in the amount of responsibility left to 
parents. In America 'no attempt is made, as a rule, to exact payments 
from the parents.' In London the proportion of the whole expenses 
of the Children's Country Holidays Fund borne by the parents in 
1888 was 32 per cent." 1 In 1893, the parents contributed 37 per cent. 
of the income of the society. 2 One of the district committees of the 
association "estimates the actual cost of the child at home, inde- 
pendently of rent and other permanent charges and requires the 
parents to contribute this amount, unless there are any special 
reasons for remission." Another committee reports that parents in 
a majority of cases are anxious to contribute toward the expense 
to the very utmost of their ability. 3 

One society, which makes it a rule to send away no children 
whose parents are earning more than 30 shillings a week, received, 
in 1893, 23 per cent, of its income from the parents of its benefi- 
ciaries. 4 

Is there any reason to suppose that the American is less able 
than the English workingman to share the expense of his children's 
country holiday? Why then, should he not be encouraged to do 
so? "Transform it all into cheap boarding-houses on the sliding 
scale. Better to pay something, if it is only 25 cents — it would cer- 
tainly cost that much to keep the children at home." Such is the 
advice of the rector of a mission church in New York City, advice 
which he puts into practice in his own successful Fresh Air work. 

1 Cyril Jackson, in Charity Organization Review, Vol. V., pp. 169, 170. 

2 Charities Register and Digest, 1895, p. 223. 

3 Charity Organization Review, Vol. VII., p. 359. 

4 "North St. Pancras Children's Holiday Fund," Charities Register 
and Digest, 1895, p. 223. 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 93 

How far would such a policy be practicable in the case of the 
general Fresh Air societies — say of New York? The present 
system of free hospitality is thoroughly intrenched. It appeals to 
the generous impulses of contributors. Then, too, the societies 
themselves value that sense of independence that comes 
from receiving their wards as free visitors rather than partial 
boarders. Were parents to share their children's vacation expenses, 
criticisms on the managements — the one thing now gratuitously 
contributed by beneficiaries — would doubtless multiply. Were a 
single organization to initiate the reform, it would manifestly be at 
a disadvantage in filling its Homes. Were several societies to act 
independently of one another in fixing rates of charge, the experi- 
ence of English Fresh Air workers would probably repeat itself 
in the way of "unhealthy competition for the custom of the 
poor." 1 

The fact that the Charity Organization Society of New York 
City reports partial repayments from but I per cent, of its nearly 
5,000 Fresh Air beneficiaries in 1895, shows the prevalence of the 
free system — the more clearly as the society works through a large 
number of churches and other agencies. It will surely be a cause 
for regret if the example of free hospitality shall prove so contagious 
as to lead any one of the working girls' vacation societies to aban- 
don the principle of self-help which now differentiates them from 
the other Fresh Air charities. We may venture to express the hope 
that any decline in the amount of such contributions is but tempo- 
rary, and that the management will cherish the early policy, even at 
the loss of individual patrons who may be tempted to use their con- 
tributions as claims upon a society's free bounty. We may yet hope 
to see a wider extension of efforts to help those who are ready to 
help themselves, and the insistence upon a larger parental responsi- 
bility in the matter of partial payments wherever these are possible 
in behalf of children. However, before there can be a general adop- 
tion of a system of repayments in cities like New York and Boston 
where there are numerous Fresh Air agencies in the field, greater 
cooperation among the societies than now exists will be essential 
to success. 

Means to Prevent Duplication. 
Information on this point from 25 general Fresh Air societies 

1 "Country Holiday Work in Central London," Charity Organization 
Review, Vol. XII., No. 142, Nov., 1896. 



94 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

outside of New York City may be summarized in the following 
way: 

10 Societies take measures to prevent duplication. 
2 Societies make some attempt in this direction. 
2 Societies answer in the negative. 
6 Societies reply that they are the only Fresh Air agencies in their 

respective communities. 
5 Societies offer general remarks. 

The methods employed to prevent duplication vary in complete- 
ness and effectiveness. This appears from attempts to classify the 
answers given. Here are samples : "Registration. None sent twice 
the same year unless very sick." "General inquiries are made." 
"We investigate each case." "All are investigated and records kept." 
"We only send those we 1 know and see often." "Nothing definite, 
except our own lists; no great danger of too much being done." 
"Names, addresses and ages are recorded." "Asking for lists of 
names from other societies of those sent." Two agencies, the 
Country Week, of Boston, and the Charity Organization Society, 
of Baltimore, are known to have made recent attempts to bring the 
Fresh Air workers of their respective cities into cooperation. The 
secretary of the Baltimore society writes : "With regard to registra- 
tion: the three Homes have registered with us all summer (1896), 
mailing lists to our Central Office, which were immediately indexed 
and returned, with all duplications marked. The expense has been 
very slight — we did not find it necessary to employ an extra clerk 
because our work is less heavy in summer time, and the small ex- 
pense of postage and stationery we were glad to bear ourselves. . . 
. . . The three homes failed to show any great amount of dupli- 
cation, although we discovered some at the beginning. I think 
the mere fact of sending lists to us, and of having it, known by 
those who prepared the lists, that they were to be sent, made them 
more careful." The success of the experiment was handicapped by 
the failure of the largest Fresh Air society of the city to cooperate 
with the others in the registration. 

What is the situation in New York City? Societies employ such 
methods of recording beneficiaries as they deem sufficient for their 
own work. Careful inquiry has failed to discover any systematic 
conference or cooperation between the societies to guard against 
"repeaters" or duplication of one another's efforts. The recommen- 
dations of the Conferences of 1888 and 1891 have been duly re- 
ceived and placed on file. Here the matter rests. In the general 
absence of alphabetical lists of beneficiaries, it is impossible to prove 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 



95 



by a comparison of such lists how far Fresh Air repeating is prac- 
tised in the city. There is no reason to suppose that with the multi- 
plication of Fresh Air societies the danger has decreased since atten- 
tion was first called to it. Nor is it to be presumed that this form of 
relief is an exception to others in its liability to abuse corresponding 
to its lavishness. The table that is herewith presented will exhibit 
some of the possibilities of the situation. 



Society. 

St. J. G. 
C. A. S. 

Health Home 
Summer Home 

San. H. C. 

Tribune 

Tribune Excur's 

All Souls' 

Barth. Cr. 



Age Limits. 

Young Children 
and Mothers 



Young Children 
and Mothers 

7-14 



Condition. 

Sick or 
Ailing 



How Selected. 

Dispensaries, 
Societies, etc. 



Need 



Children 1-9, and Nd 
caretakers. 



Life 

A. I. C. P. 

Jr. Republic 

L. M. A. A. 

S. S. M. 

G. A. R. H. 
La. T. S. 

C. H. C. H. 



6-12 

Children and 
Mothers 

6-12 

Children and 
Mothers 

(See Tribune) 
All ages 

12-17 

7-14 
6-12 

Families 
All ages 

6-12 



Sick or Dispensaries, 
Ailing Societies, etc. 

C. A. S. Schools, 
Missions 
Adults apply at 
downtown office 
Workers among 

the poor 
Workers among 
the poor 



Need 
Need 
Need 



Ailing 



Visitor, etc. 

C. O. S., Dispen- 
saries, etc. 



Need Own Visitors 



Need 

Need 
Need 



Missions and 
Personally 

Chaperons 
Through N. Y. 
Societies 



Need Application Bureau 



Need 



Need 



Personally, 
Churches, etc. 

Pastors and 
Superintendents 



Means to prevent 
Duplication. 

None employed 



None employed 
None employed 

None employed 

Reliance upon 
those selecting 
Reliance upon 
those selecting 
Visitor's knowl- 
edge and care 
"None required. 
Only children 
liable to illness 
received." 

Visitation and 
registration 
Children taken 
for July and 
August 
Investigation 
None (by S. S. 
M.) 

"Close investi- 
gation." 

Request no du- 
plicates be sent; 
question wards 
An alphabetical 
list of benefi- 
ciaries 



In the light of the above table let us examine the Fresh Air 



1 In a brief synopsis like this it is impossible to draw any but broad 
lines of demarkation. Sickness and Need are relative terms. Physical 
necessity is the prime essential for relief in the one case, material neces- 
sity in the other. The Junior Republic deals also with cases of moral 
destitution. 



96 FRBSH AIR CHARITY. 

opportunities of one placed under certain conditions. Take a wo- 
man with four children, the youngest an infant in arms, and the 
oldest a "little mother" twelve years of age. There is a girl of four 
and a boy of seven. All except the baby are among the thousands of 
children that attend the schools of the Children's Aid Society. They 
are also members of a mission Sunday school. The mother is glad 
to secure free board for herself and children for as many weeks in 
summer as possible. She, thanks to the baby, who is a bit ailing, is 
eligible to the Health Home, and the other three children are in- 
vited to spend a week at the Summer Home of the Children's Aid 
Society. The older children have already been promised by their 
mission teacher that they should go to the country when vacation 
time came. 

Besides the Homes provided by the churches, there is 
the Christian Herald Children's Home, which is noted for 
its hospitality, and a trip to the country through the Tribune or 
Life Fund is not out of the question, especially should the children 
belong to a mission, or the clubs of one of the social settle- 
ments. If the baby chances to be seized while at home with 
acute bowel trouble, there is the sanatorium of St. John's Guild, or, 
if the case is less serious, the excursions of the Floating Hospital 
are available. Probably it would be difficult to secure a fortnight 
for the entire family at the Robertson Home, unless arrangements 
had been consummated before the other outings were matters of 
history. Failing this, there is the Association for Improving the 
Condition of the Poor, whose visitor to the family the previous 
season perchance made the winter of their discontent glorious sum- 
mer, by anticipating with them the privileges of the "Ocean Parties," 
followed by a visit to the Ocean Home. The time has come for 
pledges of hospitality to be redeemed. 

Such a happy combination of circumstances as is here sup- 
posed would be comparatively rare, though others almost equally 
promising might be substituted. 

One of the most experienced administrators of both general and 
Fresh Air charity in the city testifies to conversations frequently 
overheard between adult beneficiaries, in which comparisons of var- 
ious Fresh Air Homes were made, accompanied by boasts of the 
number visited in a single season. A matron of a Summer Home 
illustrates her own experience with this class' of "rounders" by the 
story of a woman in vigorous correspondence with other Fresh Air 
societies while a guest of the first. 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 97 

Interviews with the children in summer colonies would prob- 
ably discover that their opportunities for summer outings are not 
as limited on the whole as sometimes fancied. Such at least is the 
writer's impression from a few talks with those who confessed to 
other vacations either prospective or retrospective. 

The secretary of a Fresh Air society in New York says of the 
work in general : "We are imposed upon, of course, tremendously 
so," and of duplication in particular, he adds: "We can't check it." 
The president of another society writes : "I wish something could 
be done to prevent children and adults from going away more 
than once, thereby preventing many others from having an outing 

at all. We feel sure this has seldom happened at the Home, 

but we also feel sure it must happen frequently in larger homes 
where less personal attention is given by those in charge." 

Although the parochial societies have better means of knowing 
their beneficiaries than have the general agencies, the former cannot 
be sure under present methods that their wards do not avail them- 
selves of the general societies' bounty. By belongingtodifferentmis- 
sions, Fresh Air, like Christmas, privileges may readily be multiplied, 
The means taken to prevent such duplication are : "Watchfulness." 
"We do not usually take those who have other outings." "Children 
only received that attend Sunday school or day nursery." "Personal 
knowledge of the families." "Only persons known to us are sent." 
"No objection to sending twice when change is needed." "Do not 
receive Sunday school children who attend other schools." 

If it should still be asked what are the real objections to dupli- 
cation, there are three that may be mentioned briefly, (i) The 
moral effect upon the' beneficiaries. Deliberate repeating is sure 
here, as in other forms of relief, to demoralize sooner or later those 
who indulge in it. 

(2) Wastefulness. The expense of Fresh Air work where itin- 
erancy exists is proportionately increased. Duplicate transporta- 
tion, registration and attendant costs of administration are involved. 

(3) Inequality in the distribution of Fresh Air privileges. This 
is the most serious of the objections. The most importunate seekers 
for Fresh Air relief are seldom the most worthy. Such is the tes- 
timony of those best acquainted with the charity, and tallies with 
experience in other forms of relief distribution. The supposition 
that New York City's provision of Fresh Air privileges is sufficient 
for all who are in actual need of such assistance is based on the 
assumption that the charity is fairly distributed. 



FRiEiSH AIR CHARITY. 



A canvass of 200 families made last December under the direc- 
tion of Mrs. Fullerton, Superintendent of Relief of the N. Y. A. I. 
C. P., disclosed the following facts. It should be said that the fami- 
lies selected were those known to have received excursion tickets 
from the A. I. C. P. during the summer of 1896. 

Members of 105 families went 1 time,receiving 105 total days' excursions. 



(( 


" 46 


« 


" 14 


" 


" 7 


" 


" 8 


" 


" 6 


" 


" 14 


(« 


" *>nn 



2 times, 


92 ' 


3 " 


42 


4 « 


28 * 


5 " 


40 ' 


6 " ' 


36 ' 


" 8-40 " 


200 ' 



543 " 

Average of 2.7 days' excursions per family. 

Besides the day excursions, members of 23 of these 200 families 
received a vacation of a week or fortnight at a Summer Home. A 
total of 28 weeks or 196 days was thus distributed. Adding these to 
the excursion outings, we have a total of 739 days, or an 
average of 3.6 days to each family. The misleading character of 
such an average appears from the fact, that, according to the above 
figures, members of 14 families received 200 of the total days' ex- 
cursions ; that is, 7 per cent, of the families received 36 per cent, of 
the single day's outings. 

Actually, 225 families were visited, but 25 of them had moved 
since the summer, which fact marks the shifting of this class of the 
population and is to be reckoned with in any attempt to follow up 
the work of the summer by friendly visitation in the winter. 

The most marked cases of duplication or of successive excur- 
sions were these: 



Case 1:— With N. Y. A. I. C. P 1 excursion. 

With Evening World 15 excursions. 

With Children's Aid Society . . 1 week at the Home. 

Case 2:— With N. Y. A. I. C. P .-. 5 excursions. 

With Evening World 2 excursions each week during 



With Children's Aid Society . . 1 week at its Home. 

With Children's Aid Society (Brooklyn) 1 week at its Home. 

Case 3:— With N. Y. A. I. C. P. 2 excursions. 

With Evening World 2 excursions per week in sea- 
son. 
With St. John's Guild 2 excursions per week in sea- 
son. 



Case 4:— With St. John's Guild 



5 excursions a week for the 
season. 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 99 

It is to be remembered that these reports are based on the testi- 
mony of the persons receiving the outings. While the families in- 
terviewed would have reason to conceal the truth, they had no rea- 
son to exaggerate the facts. 

In conclusion, one can but regret that the data for ascertain- 
ing, even approximately, the amount of overlapping and "overlook- 
ing," that actually exists in New York City, for example, are so in- 
complete. 

Has Fresh Air Charity any Tendency to Pauperize Its Recipients ? 

One way in which such a tendency might be expected to show 
itself is indicated in the question: "Is there any tendency on the 
part of the recipients to come upon the society for assistance in 
other directions, apparently as a result of this work?" Of 29 Fresh 
Air agencies outside of New York City that reply to the question, 23 
societies find no such tendency, while 5 organizations do find such a 
tendency, "occasionally," "in many instances," "in very few cases," 
"for clothing slightly," or "much aid given unsought." One society 
expresses doubt about the matter. 

Of the general societies of New York City, but two may be said 
to reply in the affirmative. Dr. Tolman answers: "Yes, I believe 
so." Mr. George writes: "There was until this season " (i. e., 1895, 
when the Camp was organized as a Children's Republic to meet 
this and other difficulties). Mr. George tells the story of an Italian 
child who was forever assailing him during the vacation with the 
stereotyped question: "What yer's goin' ter give us when we go 
home?" Finally, in desperation, the answer came, "I don't know that 
I will give you anything." The girl's eyes flashed fire as she retorted : 
"Well, what yer's tink we's here fer, anyway?" His experience 
with similar cases convinced him that many of the children were sent 
for the sake of the "spoils" which they were expected to bring away 
with them. 

None of the parochial societies appears to have discovered the 
tendency in question. 

It is but fair to note certain characteristics of Fresh Air work 
which operate to check any pauperizing tendency inherent in gen- 
eral charity. One of these self-operating checks is found in the fact 
that so many of the societies are not general relief agencies. Our sta- 
tistics have shown that 29 out of 51 societies are distinctively Fresh 
Air associations. Whatever relief is afforded is directly connected 
with this charity. Doubtless, as Mr. George points out, this does 

LtHb- 



100 FRiESH AIR CHARITY. 

not entirely free the charity from opportunities to pauperize. The 
intermittent character of the work is a second check. The charity 
is a summer philanthropy. Its temporary nature breaks the con- 
tinuity of the relief afforded. It may encourage a kind of amateur 
pauperism, but is not sufficiently permanent to satisfy the demands 
of professionalism. The professional, however, may make use of 
the charity to secure free board in season. 

We have previously noted the bearing which the matter of age 
has upon the question. So far as young children are the recipients 
of the relief, only the parents are affected in this respect by the moral 
influences of the charity. As we have seen, however, the majority 
of vacation visitors are children between the ages of six and twelve. 
Such beneficiaries, like Mr. George's Italian ward, are old enough 
to appreciate the advantages of getting something for nothing. 
Illness, too, is usually considered a condition which invites the 
minimum danger of pauperizing recipients of relief. Hospital treat- 
ment has an important place in Fresh Air ministrations. Restric- 
tions in the way of standards of cleanliness will operate as checks. 
Whatever calls for effort on the part of the parents or entails sacri- 
fice will have a similar effect. Some mothers are found who are too 
lazy to prepare themselves or their children even for the day excur- 
sions. Where it is necessary to cut off the hair of the child, the par- 
ental pride is often too great to pay the price more than once. 

If in addition to such checks as already exist, there were intro- 
duced the system of partial repayments, together with a central regis- 
tration bureau to guard against repeating, any tendency to pauper- 
ize beneficiaries would be reduced to a mimimum. If, moreover, 
it shall be found that the charity exerts a considerable edu- 
cational influence on its recipients, a further guarantee that its dis- 
tribution is safe-guarded will be afforded. 

Fresh Air Charity as an Educational Force. 

This does not necessarily imply the giving of formal instruction. 
The Conference of 1888 discouraged attempts in this direction,- 
"inasmuch as the influences for good that spring up spontaneously 
in a pure home can be safely left to their unaided work." On the 
other hand, one of the arguments in behalf of the summer colony is 
that "the teacher is a better moral authority than the family." This 
may mean simply that the teacher is a better disciplinarian. Cer- 
tainly, if definite instruction is recognized as one of the aims of the 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 101 

outing, this is a strong point in favor of the colony, where trained 
teachers may be employed. 

The kind and amount of instruction at present afforded, exhibit 
considerable variety. Yet that the vacation is valued for the lessons 
which it conveys appears from the replies of a number of societies. 

14 Agencies answer that no instruction is attempted by them. 
11 Agencies answer in the affirmative. 
3 Agencies reply that instruction is given incidentally. 

When one inquires as to the nature of the instruction imparted, 
one finds that it ranges from ''preaching on Sunday" to "systematic 
kindergarten teaching." The replies also include, "Sewing, house- 
work and kindergarten teaching." "Books for reading." "All in- 
cidental instruction that can be given is given." "It is hoped that 
habits of neatness, order and industry will be taught the visitors" 
(this from a society that boards out its beneficiaries). "Children are 
instructed a few hours every day." "Only that of kind suggestion as 
to more thrifty ways of living, cooking, etc." "Instructive games 
are provided." 

It may be of interest to compare with the foregoing, answers 
from the general societies of New York city. "No ; children go for 
a good time." "Gratitude and the Golden Rule." "Personal talks 
to women and children by trained nurse and kindergartner." "In- 
struction is given in various trades, in citizenship, government, 
social life, etc. It is a miniature Republic of the children, for the 
children, and by the children." "Instruction in morals and man- 
ners." "Instruction in dish-washing, bed-making, waiting on table, 
mending, manners, correct language, etc." "Housework, sewing." 
A station of the Penny Provident Fund is maintained on the Float- 
ing Hospital of St. John's Guild. Here also mothers are instructed 
as to the bathing and care of their children. This last is true of 
other sanatoriums. 

The parochial societies respond: "Religious training, house- 
work, sewing, some school-work." "Service morning and evening. 
Singing and library — Sabbath afternoon services." "Yes, two or 
three hours a day by teachers from the Workingman's School, In- 
struction in Botany, Zoology, Landscaping, etc." "Education in 
housework. Informal teaching about plant and animal life." "No; 
children go for Fresh Air." 

There appear to be but two or three instances where the in- 
struction can be considered formal in its nature. The Junior Re- 



102 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

public is one of these. The work here is directly educational, en- 
deavoring to develop moral energy and purpose in the vacationists 
while acquainting them with the elements of republican institutions. 
A visit of two months makes systematic instruction practicable. 
The Society for Ethical Culture provides science teachers for its 
beneficiaries. The children are from its city school and have the 
advantage of previous training in similar lines of work. The sum- 
mer outing affords opportunity for field work in nature studies. 
Attention has already been directed to the efforts of the N. Y. A. 
I. C. P. to combine recreation and education. 1 The lessons here 
are more or less informal, but good results are reported in the teach- 
ing of the arts of marketing, cooking and the like. Kindergarten 
instruction and nature work are also provided. 

Whatever invites intellectual effort on the part of recipients of 
Fresh Air charity, or tends to store within them moral as well as 
physical energy, will in so far free the philanthropy from any sus- 
picion of pauperizing its beneficiaries. That it is possible to develop 
the educational purpose at the expense of the recreational is quite 
conceivable. Re-creation is the motive of Fresh Air work. Physi- 
cal recreation should work itself out in improved disposition and 
habits when the child returns home, and in renewed power of appli- 
cation at school. 2 

Perfecting Fresh Air Charity. 

One naturally looks to the societies themselves to point out any 
deficiencies which at present exist in the charity and to indicate how 
these may be supplied. Therefore it will be well to give at length the 
replies to the question : "How can the work be improved?" 

1 P. 56. On this point see 53d Annual Report of the Association. 

2 As appears from the answers to the general inquiry, many of the 
churches and missionary societies value the work for the opportunity 
which it furnishes for imparting religious teaching. Ecclesiastical 
agencies should studiously avoid all appearance of using their Fresh 
Air hospitality as a vehicle for proselyting to their own communions. 
Such suspicion is more naturally occasioned where children are re- 
ceived not only from the Sunday school, but as members of secular clubs 
and classes connected with the parish. 

For example, here is a description of a work to which a devout 
Romanist might take exception. "A few of the happy faces have been 
seen in our Sunday school, but the majority of this group are Catholics, 
attending our Boys' Club." So mUch for the character of the Fresh Air 
party. This is the program of the camp life. "It is decided to rise early, 
bathe, take breakfast, then hold service. . . . We decided to have a 
little Gospel meeting each evening under different leaders. . . . Almost 
from the first, at the services, texts were given out to be learned by 
heart, chapter and verse; prizes were offered, and the competition was 
very earnest." 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 103 

SUMMARY. 

Generally Specific Satisfied 
Applicable. Answers, at present. 

Replies of Societies outside of N. Y. City 5 6 2 

General Societies of New York City 5 1 2 

Parochial Societies of the City 4 

One society considers the subject too large to enter upon, and 
two others think their experience too recent to warrant advice from 
them. Answers are considered "specific" which relate to the affairs 
of the particular society, usually, as it happens, with reference to 
increased resources. 

The president of the Allegheny City society suggests improve- 
ments: 

(a) "By having more thorough visiting among the poorer classes." 

(b) "By having some school instruction for the children." 

(c) "By having some training for the mothers, as to the care of their 
children; also instruction in sewing." 

Remarks:— "I should like to see some industrial training for the chil- 
dren that, in addition to their health, they might carry back some other 
valuable helps for a better living. I would like to see regular teachers 
employed for a part of every day, and a training class for the mothers as 
to a better, happier, healthier way of caring for their children." 

This is from one of the Baltimore societies: 

(a) "By beneficiaries paying a nominal sum." 

(b) "If many of the families could be followed up during the winter 
by a friendly visitor, a much more permanent effect would be secured, 
and many of the parents, whose confidence has been gained by the 
kindness shown the children, could be influenced in many ways for the 
better." 

The agent of the Lake Geneva Fresh Air Association writes : 

"I advise thorough investigation, full cooperation with others en- 
gaged in the same work, that the real merits of each case may be known. 
A registration of names and addresses, that others engaged in the same 
work may have access to. The general rules observed by relief societies 
concerning applications, visitations and decision of cases might be ob- 
served in this work with advantage. In our own work we give prefer- 
ence to invalids (not hospital cases), to convalescents, or cripples, and a 
decided preference to those who have not been sent to us before." 

The secretary of the Hartford City Missionary Society empha- 
sizes these things : 

(a) "Persuade public and private parties to register the names of 



104 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

children sent, through a Charity Organization Society or some central 
place." 

(b) "Careful selection of children." 

(c) "Careful selection of families receiving them." 

(d) "Careful instruction of both families and children beforehand." 
Remarks:— "There should be a central place where each child should 

be prepared with a bath and general cleaning up just before starting. 
The families who entertain should understand these children get their 
ideas of good home-life, of cleanliness and order, of kindness and love 
and Christian living during their visit, and these are more helpful in 
promoting their best good than any physical benefit received and will 
be more lasting. If such good homes could be found it would be better 
than boarding together in a public home." 

The secretary of the Worcester City Missionary Society recom- 
mends: 

(a) "Great care in selecting those who are worthy." 

(b) "Systematizing to the last degree." 

(c) "Following up the families aided through the year." 

The suggestions from those interested in the Fresh Air charities 
of New York seem to relate more or less directly to the societies of 
that city. 

The president of All Souls' Summer Home writes: 

"Cooperation is always desirable and there should be a meeting of 
Fresh Air workers once every spring." 

The general agent of the N. Y. A. I. C. P. recommends: 

(a) "Some kind of Fresh Air Clearing House." 

(b) "Less regard for proselyting by the churches." 

(c) "More loving cooperation by the philanthropies." 

(d) "A higher standard in the individual work." 

Mr. George speaks of things taught him by his own experience 
and suggests reforms which he has instituted at his summer camp: 

(a) "By taking occasion during their outing to teach them the rudi- 
ments of some useful trade. 

(b) "By devising some systematic method of payment for the work 
they perform at the above mentioned trade, amount received governed 
by quality of work. Payment need not necessarily be in United States 
currency. Little cardboard checks will serve the purpose just as well." 

(c) "By requiring payment for board, lodging, clothing, and, in fact, 
everything they receive, with the money or the checks mentioned in 'b'." 

The city manager of the Gilbert A. Robertson Home says: 

(a) "Avoid crowding your homes." 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 105 

(b) "Take time in forming your parties and endeavor to have them 
congenial." » 

The president of the Lana ac Tela Society writes: 

(a) "I think homes should be located nearer the city, so more could 
be taken and less expended on car fare." 

(b) "By personal work on the part of those in charge, not trusting 
oversight and management to paid attendants, who, in many cases, have 
no love for the work." 

(c) "By small homes and more of them where individuality is not 
swallowed up in the large number received." 

(d) "By combining instruction with the pleasure of the outing and 
in all cases emphasizing the idea that some return must always be 
made for the good things we receive if we are to have self-respect." 

The few suggestions offered by the parochial societies are in 
brief: 

(a) "By providing moderate boarding places for working girls and 
young men who do not wish to be under the charge of any Charitable 
Association." 

(b) "By providing more places where whole families may be taken 
together." 

(c) "By conducting work on plan of partial repayments, provided ex- 
ception is made in extreme cases." 

(d) "More small cottages would aid greatly in keeping the work from 
becoming an aggregation." 

(e) "By extending its scope." 

(f) "Extension of day excursions to avoid breaking up the family." 

The recommendations may be summed up — somewhat after the 
order of the prominence given them — as : More friendly visitation, 
instruction, partial repayments, central registration, general co- 
operation between Fresh Air societies, more personality in the work, 
careful selection of beneficiaries and hosts, application of general 
rules of charitable relief, less proselyting by churches, thorough 
systematization, more small homes, avoidance of overcrowding, 
homes nearer the city, more provision for families as a whole, and 
for working girls and young men who do not wish to be objects of 
charity, but are willing to pay moderate board. 

Does It Pay? 

On one point the societies are practically unanimous, and that is 
that Fresh Air work pays. The emphasis in the affirmative is un- 
mistakable from such expressions as: "Most certainly it does pay." 
"Surely it does." "Over and over again." "We know of nothing 



106 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

that pays better." The 28 societies outside of New York that reply 
to the query, answer in the affirmative. A few give specifications. 
"Improvement in health and cleanliness. Suggestions of better 
habits of living. Knowledge of country life." "By reducing mor- 
tality among the infants of the city." "In every way, particularly 
by giving an open, door of access for religious effort to the home 
benefited." "Physically ; yes." 

In New York City the endorsement of the charity is quite as 
cordial. "Beyond a question." "Certainly it does." Mr. George, 
alone, qualifies his answer. He thinks that the charity needs to be 
on its guard, "Otherwise — to be perfectly frank — I believe there are 
instances where children are pauperized through the securing of 
'something for nothing/ Make the good old maxim, 'Nothing 
without labor,' a law with the children and it will pay abundantly." 

The parochial societies agree with the more general agencies, 
that the work is highly remunerative. 

Our American societies have made few, if any, scientific tests to 
ascertain the exact physical improvement in Fresh Air beneficiaries. 
One physician of considerable experience with the general results 
concludes that very poor children are not as much benefited as the 
better class, "because (1) they are in a state of chronic hunger; (2) 
the time is not long enough to make much of an improvement, 
and (3) the slight benefit they derive is not permanent, because 
they return to the same mode of life." Dr. Daniel continues: "I 
have sent children for six or seven years, but have not definite sta- 
tistics, yet my impression is that at least one-half of the children 
sent are improved physically. The most marked improvement is 
in appetite and general appearance. I can say that I believe the 
Fresh Air Fund is the best plaster we have for unjust social con- 
ditions of the people." 1 ^ 

The physical benefits derived from the Vacation Colonies of 
Switzerland have been made the subject of careful analysis. An ex- 
amination of 34 children showed an improvement in blood coloring 
of 18 and 26 per cent, for the boys and girls respectively, and in 
blood corpuscles of 25 and 32 per cent., a condition well maintained 
four months after their return from the Colonies. 2 

1 Letter to Rev. Willard Parsons, and quoted by Mr. Parsons in "The 
Story of the Fresh Air Fund," Scribner's Magazine, Vol. IX., No. 4, 
April, 1891. 

2 "Sanitare Erfolge der Zurcher Feriencolonien im Jahre 1895." Dr. 
Leuch, Stadtarzt in Zurich. Dr. Leuch concludes the report of his inves- 
tigation with these words: "Gestiitzt auf solche Erfahrungen stehe ich 
als Arzt und Hygieniker keinen Augenblick an, die Feriencolonien als 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 107 

Having thus reviewed the information obtained in response to 
the letter of inquiry, it only remains to summarize the results and 
conclusions of the study. 

In Chapter I., the purpose of the present paper is indicated and 
its general limits are defined. 

In Chapter II., the work of thirty-seven general Fresh Air socie- 
ties — not including similar agencies in New York City — is dis- 
cussed from the standpoint of statistics, and definite data respecting 
the distribution, development, volume, range, types, cost and 
methods of the charity are presented. 

Chapter III., is a detailed study of the Fresh Air activities of a 
single city. New York, because of its relation to the charity at its 
inception and the rapid multiplication of Fresh Air agencies there, 
has offered a promising field for closer investigation. 

In the present chapter, we have discussed in the light of the sta- 
tistical data and of general experience, certain specific problems 
relating to the practical operation of the philanthropy. 

We are now prepared to answer the questions raised at the be- 
ginning of the inquiry. The conclusions to be drawn have been 
already more or less definitely anticipated in the course of the dis- 
cussion. They may therefore be the more briefly summarized here. 

The justification of Fresh Air charity rests upon the assumption 
that its beneficiaries are physically and materially in need, and there- 
fore unable to secure for themselves or their children those curative 
and recreational opportunities vouchsafed to their more fortunate 
fellows, and essential to the maintenance of normal vigor or the 
successful pursuit of daily tasks. 

Whatever rules are applicable to the distribution of general re- 
lief are also applicable to the distribution of Fresh Air relief. Prom- 
iscuous alms-giving stands condemned. Experience proves that 
society may have as many dependents as she is willing to provide 

eine der segensreichsten sanitaren Institutionen zu bezeiebnen, deren 
unzweifelhafte Erfolge um so hdher angeschlagen werden mtissen, als 
sie nicht bios voriibergehender, sondern dauernder Natur sind und nicht 
bios don betreffenden Kindern, sondern durch diese auch der Gesammt- 
heit zu Gute kommen." 

M. Guyau, in his noted work, "Education et heredite," warmly en- 
dorses "les colonies de vacances et les voyages de vacances." He 
quotes the words of his countryman, M. Cottinet, experienced in the 
philanthropy, to show its hygienic value. "Et Ton a pu constater ces 
deux choses d'une eloquence egale; avant leur depart pour la campagne, 
le poids de ces enfants, la circonference de leur poitrine, sont fort au- 
dessous, lamentablement au-dessous de la moyenne assignee a leur age; 
a leur retour, la proportion s'est renversee: ils ont gagne de cinq a dix, 
a vingt fois l'accroissement normal." (Education et heredite," p. 112.) 



108 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

for. The distinction between sentimental charity and scientific re- 
lief is not one of motive, but one of vision. Difference of vision 
leads to difference of method. Both the sentimentalist and the so- 
ciologist desire to satisfy need. The one, however, is conscious only 
of the individual and the present moment. The other sees society 
in the individual and takes counsel of the future. Scientific charity 
seeks therefore to discriminate between the worthy and the un- 
worthy, and to restore those who are dependent through no fault of 
their own, to a place of self-respect in the economic world. While, 
as we have seen, Fresh Air relief commonly possesses certain checks 
which reduce the danger of pauperizing its beneficiaries, this fact 
does not absolve the charity from due care in the distribution of its 
favors. 

If then we accept the fact that Fresh Air work as here classified 
is a charity, and as such is to be governed by the rules of organized 
relief, much is gained for its scientific administration. 

How shall the ailing and the needy be sifted from the mass of 
importunates except by some kind of test, registration or investiga- 
tion? And how may the worthy poor who shrink from asking 
charity in any form and., who have no friends to speak for them, be 
discovered except by some plan of visitation? With an annual dis- 
tribution of some half-million days' outings and the expenditure of 
more than $150,000 in the case of a single city like New York, must 
all attempts to coordinate the work of the several Fresh Air societies 
be abandoned? Dr. William I. Hull, in charge of the Department 
of Sociology and Economics at Swarthmore College, after a sum- 
mer's practical experience with the workings of Fresh Air charity 
in New York, sums up the situation as follows : 

"The task of criticism is always an unpleasant one, and in the name 
of charity many sins should be forgiven; hut there are certain evils 
which cannot be forgotten, and which every effort should be made to 
avoid. Our experience in the Bureau of Invitations has led us to the 
conclusion that a great deal of summer charity covers at least two 
great evils, namely, ignorance of the true status of those sought to be 
benefited and consequent injury to them and others; and, secondly, an 
overlapping in the work of charitable agencies. As an instance of the 
first, when it was ascertained that a family recommended to us for a 
fortnight's stay at the Homes was in receipt of sufficient income to enable 
them to occupy rooms with a monthly rental of $40, the no doubt well- 
meaning individual who recommended them replied, when asked for 
an explanation of why she had recommended them: 'Oh, I am only a 
missionary, and you cannot expect me to know such things.' Again, 
when leading newspapers and charitable societies march beneath the 



DISCUSSION OF GENERAL PROBLEMS. 109 

banner of 'Philanthropy, Notoriety and a Long Subscription List,' they 
are often led to reap in a field already harvested, and an injurious re- 
duplication of Fresh Air Charity ensues. This, we regret to say, has 
been the case in our city during the past summer. It is not contended, of 
course, that everyone who needed an outing received it. The pity of it 
is that the 'old rounders' who know all about the charitable agencies and 
pursue them diligently through summer and winter, and who often stand 
in least need of such outings, receive most of them; while thousands of 
the city's poor and invalid, not knowing of these opportunities of secur- 
ing rest and strength, or not caring to enter into an unseemly pursuit of 
them, receive them not." 1 

Here is expert testimony. If now the plan tried this last sum- 
mer in Baltimore and already described seems too complicated for 
New York's manifold Fresh Air agencies, why should not an ex- 
periment similar to the one suggested by the Conference of 1891 
be fairly tested? One season's trial would demonstrate the wisdom 
or otherwise of further cooperation. Let each society agree to keep 
an alphabetical list or card catalogue of the names of its benefi- 
ciaries with the number of days' outings given to each during the 
summer. At the end of the season, let such lists be submitted to the 
Charity Organization Society for inspection. Let the lists be com- 
pared and all cases of duplication between societies be carefully 
noted, together with the number of total days' outings enjoyed by 
such beneficiaries. Let these cases be visited and their actual physi- 
cal and material condition be ascertained. If it should then appear 
that the overlapping has been very considerable and that it has 
occurred largely in the case of the less worthy to the exclusion of 
the more deserving, let a conference be called and some form of 
practical cooperation be devised for the following season. Several 
advantages would accrue from such an endeavor. (1) It would 
furnish an object lesson in organized cooperative charitable effort. 
(2) It would call for a systematic registration of beneficiaries on the 
part of all the Fresh Air societies. (3) The experiment would de- 
monstrate how far the charity is at present subject to abuse. (4) 
Finally, if serious duplication were discovered, doubtless some prac- 
tical method would be devised to prevent its continuance. 

Such efforts at coordination might ultimately lead to the forma- 

*A. I. C. P. Notes, Vol. I., Nos. 4 and 5, p. M. Dr. Hull notes the 
fact that of the families applying or recommended to the N. Y. A. I. C. 
P.'s Fresh Air Bureau, 23 per cent, were rejected for various reasons, 
"the most common ones being that their financial condition did not 
justify gratuitous aid, that their physical condition did not require Fresh 
Air Charity, or that they had already been the recipients of Summer 
Outings." 



110 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

tion of a Central Council composed of representatives of the various 
Fresh Air Societies, 1 and the division of the tenement section into 
districts with a system of regular visitation by experienced workers 
for the purpose of ascertaining the needs and resources of the several 
wards and of furnishing relief to children and their elders somewhat 
in the order of the necessity. 

All this may be but an idle dream. One may well wish, how- 
ever, that a charity which rallies to its support all sorts and condi- 
tions of folk — the artisan and the clerk, the child and its parents, 
the devotee of the club and the woman of society, the secularist and 
the churchman, the democrat and the Sultan of Turkey — might set 
that example of practical cooperation for whose consummation 
scientific charity waits. In the meantime, let all efforts municipal 
and private, which aim to bring Fresh Air privileges or their equiva- 



x For the sake of record, it may be noted that the "Conference of 
Charities of the City of New York," at its monthly meeting, April 21, 1897, 
held in the United Charities Building, considered the topic: "Fresh Air 
and Summer Charities." The writer, by request, submitted to the Con- 
ference a plan for a Central Council of the Fresh Air Societies of the 
city. The plan was discussed by the Chairman of the meeting, Rev. 
Willard Parsons, and by the following invited speakers: Hon. John P. 
Faure, of St. John's Guild; Dr. H. E. Crampton, of the Association for 
Improving the Condition of the Poor; (Mr. Nathan Lewis, of the Sani- 
tarium for Hebrew Children; Mrs. J. H. Johnston, of the Little Mothers' 
Aid Association; Mr. Charles Loring Brace, of the Children's Aid Society, 
and Mr. James E. Dougherty, of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. 
Other speakers were Mr. Homer Folks, Secretary of the Conference, Dr. 
Moreau Morris, and Rev. John B. Devins. The following resolutions 
were presented and passed without a dissenting voice: 

RESOLVED, That a Committee of Five, consisting of the Chairman 
of this meeting, the principal speaker of the meeting, the Secretary of the 
Conference of Charities and two persons to be appointed by the Chair- 
man, be appointed as a Committee to take the initial steps in behalf of 
the Conference of Charities, in the formation of a Council of Fresh Air 
and Summer Charities in New York City, and 

RESOLVED, That the duties of this Committee shall be as follows: 

1. To fix a time and place for the first meeting of such a Council. 

2. To issue invitations in the name of the Conference of Charities 
to each of the general societies engaged in Fresh Air and Summer 
Charity, inviting them to send a delegate to the proposed Council of 
Fresh Air and Summer Charities. 

3. To ascertain whether any of the societies in this building will 
furnish office room for a clerk of the Council of Fresh Air and Summer 
Charities during the summer months without charge. 

4. To formulate an estimate of the expense involved in carrying on 
the work of the Council during the summer months in accordance with 
the plans outlined at this meeting. 

5. To formulate and present to the first meeting of the Council a 
plan of organization. 

6. To take such other preliminary action as may seem to them nec- 
essary in arranging for the first meeting of the Council. 



DISCUSSION OP GENERAL PROBLEMS. Ill 

lents within the reach of the everyday life of the people, be quickened 
and multiplied. These efforts relate to improved housing, small 
parks and children's playgrounds in the tenement sections, a system 
of dock parks where practicable, training classes for mothers, vaca- 
tion schools, baths and lavatories, and the development of rapid and 
cheap transit facilities lessening the breach between country and 
city. 

Far better than any charity even at its best is the distribution of 
such social and economic opportunities as will make wholesome 
normal living possible for the denizens of the tenement and their 
children. 



112 FRESH AIR CHARITY. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER SOURCES OF MATERIAL. 

Annual Reports of the Various Fresh Air Societies. 

Answers to the Letter of Inquiry issued in the name of the N. Y. A. 
I. C. P. 

Correspondence' with Officials and Workers connected with the 
Charity. 

Interviews with such Officials and Workers in New York, Brook- 
lyn, Boston and elsewhere. 

Visits to Fresh Air Homes and Colonies, and attendance on Ex- 
cursions. 

Year Books of Churches, and Denominational Publications. 

SPECIAL ARTICLES IN CURRENT LITERATURE. ■ 

"An Ideal for the Children's Country Holidays Fund." — Charity 
Organization Review (London), Vol. X., No. 116; September, 
1894. 

Barthelemy, Antonin, "Country Holidays for Paris Children." — C. 

0. Review, Vol. II., No. 24; December, 1886. 

"Children's Country Holidays in Berlin." — C. O. Review, Vol. III., 

No. 25 ; January, 1887. 
Cole, William I., "Country Week." — New England Magazine, Vol. 

XIV., No. 5 July, 1896. 
Germain, Eugene, "Vacation Colonies in Switzerland." — Consular 

Reports, Vol. LIL, No. 193; October, 1896. 
Gilman, M. R. F., "Our Country Weekers."— Lend a Hand, Vol. 

II., No. 10, October, 1887. 
Hull, William I., Report to General Agent of N. Y. A. I. C. P.— A. 

1. C. P. Notes, Vol. I., Nos. 4 and 5; December, 1896. 
Humphrey, E. F. (Miss), "Country Holiday Work in Central Lon- 
don," Charity Organization Review, Vol. XII., No. 142; No- 
vember, 1896. 

Jackson, Cyril, "The Children's Country Holidays Fund," Charity 

Organization Review, Vol. V., No. 52; April, 1889. 
Lovett, Eleanor I., "One Summer's Work." — Sunday Afternoon, 

Vol. I., No. 5; May, 1878. 
"Outings for Poor Children." — St. Vincent de Paul Quarterly, VoL 

L, No. 2; February, 1896. 
"Outlook's Vacation Fund (The)."— The Outlook, Vol. LIV., No. 

24; December 12, 1896. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 113 

Parsons, Willard, "The Story of the Fresh Air Fund." — Scribner's 
Magazine, Vol. IX., No. 4; April, 1891. 

Perkins, J. Newton (Rev.), "The First Summer Home and its 
Founder."— The Churchman, Vol. LXXIV., No. 11; Sep- 
tember 12, 1896. 

Rideing, William H., "The Charities of a Summer." — Sunday After- 
noon, Vol. III., No. 21; September, 1879. 

Times, New York, Files for the Summer Seasons, 1872-1875. 

Wiley, William H., "A Glance at the Guild's Early History."— 
Monthly Bulletin of St. John's Guild, Vol. IV., No. 7; Novem- 
ber, 1895. 

FOREIGN REPORTS. 

Bericht uber die am 8. u. 9. August, 1896, in Berlin abgehaltene 
Fiinfte Konferenz der Vertreter von Vereinigungen fur Som- 
merpflege. Berlin, 1896. 

Bericht uber die Ergebnisse der Sommerpflege in Deutschland im 
Jahre 1892. Berlin, 1893. Similar reports for 1893-1895. 

XVII. Rechenschaftsbericht des Berliner Vereins fur hausliche Ge- 
sundheitspflege. Berlin, 1896. 

Die Ferienkolonien fur arme Schulkinder in der Schweiz in den 
Jahren 1891-1895, zugleich Uberblick uber die ersten 20 Jahre 
der Entwicklung: 1876-1895. Von Harald Marthaler, Bern, 

1897. 
Ferienversorgung in Basel. Berichte und Rechnungen, 1 878-1 892. 

Basel, 1894. Also reports for 1895, 1896. 
Zum XXjahrigen Bestand der Ferienkolonien. Erstehung und 

Entwicklung derselben. Bericht von Zurich, 1895, von W. 

Bion, Pfarrer. Zurich, 1896. Similar reports, 1883- 1894. 
Sanitare Erfolge der Ziircher Feriencolonien im Jahre 1895. Von 

Dr. Leuch, Stadtarzt in Zurich. (Separatabdruck aus dem 

Correspondenz-Blatt fur Schweizer Aerzte, 1896, Nr. 21.) 

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Charities Review, The; New York, 1891 — 

Charity Organization Review, The; London, 1885 — 

Charities Register and Digest, London, 1895. 

Hand-Book of Sociological References for New York. By Wm. 

Howe Tolman and Wm. I. Hull; New York, 1894. 
Life and Work of William Augustus Muhlenberg, D. D. By Anne 

Ayres; New York, 1880. 



114 FRESH AIR OHAHITY. 

New York Charities Directory; New York, 1895 an d 1897. 

Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and Correc- 
tion; Chicago, 1893. (See index for articles on the Care of De- 
pendent Children and Child-Saving.) 

Publications of the State Charities Aid Association; New York. 
(Especially Nos. 59 and 63.) 

Report of Health Department, City of New York, 1892. Memo- 
randa of the Department, Dr. Roger Tracy; New York, No- 
vember, 1896. 

Report of the Tenement-House Committee of 1894. Albany, New 
York, 1895. 

Slums of Great Cities, The; Seventh Special Report of the Com- 
missioner of Labor, Washington, 1894. 



OCT 23 190Q 





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